The 29 councils that have had their local elections cancelled this year by Labour are set to raise council tax by £121 million next year, according to research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Without a mandate to do so…
Peterborough is set to increase tax the most – by nearly £5.4 million. Meanwhile five councils that have cancelled their elections for a second year running are forecast to hike tax by £105.4 million in 2026-27 compared with 2025-26. Council tax across all local authorities is expected to rise by £1 billion next year. Elliot Keck of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“Any council cancelling their elections and still considering raising council tax should hang their heads in shame. It represents a serious breach of democratic norms to increase tax without a mandate to do so from the voters, adding insult to injury given these delays are patently unnecessary.”
No taxation without representation…
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has written to Housing Secretary Steve Reed. Keck says:
“It is a core principle of democratic governance that taxation should only be levied with the consent of the people. As far back as the Bill of Rights it was ruled that levying money for the Crown without the consent of Parliament is illegal.
The same principle should apply now. For all intents and purposes, councils with delayed elections are not democratically elected. Just as we would not consider a foreign government democratic once it exceeded its term limit, regardless of how it initially came to power, nor should the British government view councils exceeding their term limits as democratically elected. Local taxpayers certainly won’t.
As a result, we are asking on behalf of the taxpayers of these areas that you bring legislation urgently to parliament to strip these local authorities of the power to increase local tax rates. This would not impact their current tax raising powers, which should be sufficient to last for the coming financial year given successive years of council tax increases.”
People have fought wars over this – just saying…
Read the full letter below:
Speaking about Morgan McSweeney’s resignation, skills minister Jacqui Smith told Times Radio:
“It’s clearly not ideal but I do understand why Morgan, as he explained, decided to resign at this point. But the important thing as you say is how we both tackle what this Epstein and Mandelson scandal has identified and also how we make sure, as the prime minister is absolutely determined to, that we continue the change that the country needs and that’s what I’m focusing on this morning.”