The government has continued its support for local authorities in England to freeze their Council Tax for 2012/13. Last year, for the 2011/12 freeze, the government offered a grant to each council, equivalent to a 2.5% increase in the tax. This grant lasts for the duration of the current Parliament – up to 2015.
Crawley Council has published its budget plans for 2012/13. There is a Council Tax Freeze for the second year running and this continues the six-year track record of the lowest Council Tax rises in all of Sussex
There is something beneficial in politics about having the confidence to explore new ways of delivering services. By doing so, we stimulate creative thought and provide better outcomes for our community. We could keep our ideas stuck in the late 1940’s where so many services were supposed to be kept under direct government control, with no other options being considered, but what would be the point of that?
Last week, we saw the major public sector strike which majored on the issue of pensions. It is worth reflecting on just how much a pension can cost. On retirement, we are able to convert our pension pot into an annuity whose value is related to prevailing and future interest rates. Of course, these rates are at historic lows and this dramatically influences what our annuities will pay out.
Europe
Our relationship withEuropehas again been dramatically placed in the news, appropriately triggered by a public petition. Henry Smith MP did well in supporting the right of the people to express their view on our relationship with the European Union. The last time that we had such an opportunity was in 1975 with the EEC (European Economic Community). That EEC has surely morphed into something unrecognisable from the structure receiving public support 36 years ago, and without us having a direct say in this outcome.
In all of Sussex, there are 17 local authorities that charge Council Tax. Since taking control of Crawley Borough Council in 2006, Conservatives have set the lowest increases in Council Tax out of all these local authorities.
Delusions
When Labour won the General Election in 1945, Professor Harold Laski, one of the party’s prominent figures, prophesised, “1,000 years of socialism”. They got six. This is if you allow that the period up to 1951 was socialism, as many adherents have their different interpretations, all of which are right of course. It is possible to become delusional about the consequences of power. People can too easily believe that their influence and power will become permanent features, when in reality they are temporary and derived from others.
Local Government has its origins. One of these important driving factors was the need to collect and dispose of rubbish, preferably weekly. If local government is not doing at least this, what is it about? Yet under Labour, Council Tax doubled and bin collections halved. Eight million households now have a fortnightly collection.
The national media has recently reported on some of our major banks continuing to invest in companies that make cluster bombs. Britain is a signatory, along with 107 other countries, to a global treaty banning the production, distribution and transfer of these weapons. These munitions pose an indiscriminate wide-area threat to civilians, and can kill and maim years after they have been deployed.
