15th February 2010

Labour Silence, not low council tax, is the News

The East Anglian Daily Times rightly lauds the historically low council tax announced by Suffolk County Council today.  But their judgement that 'finally the taxpayers of Suffolk are to be given a council tax rate rise that won't cause apoplexy' is - as far as voters are concerned - entirely wrong.  Last year the County Council produced an increase well within inflation while the Tories leading Ipswich Borough Council have time and again kept increases below the rise in the cost of living.  Given the extraordinary mess inherited by the Conservatives in both authorities (you may remember the famous 18% tax increase of 2002, and the appalling deficit and backlog of maintenance in Ipswich), this is no mean achievement, especially as the central government grant has, pro rata, declined every year.

Where the East Anglian is right, even if it does not mean it, is that this year's announcement has not been accompanied by the usual statements of manufactured apoplexy from the Labour Party.  In any normal year, the announcement of a low tax increase excites howls from the left - fatuous and muddled accusations of service cuts designed to frighten people, no matter that the reality has in every instance been the reverse.  Never mind the fact that for most people council tax makes a big dent in their pay packet, and a rise of Labour proportions has to be paid out of holiday money, or savings.  Never mind the fact that the council consistently gets top marks from the Audit Commission for the quality of its services.

But do you notice their silence this time?  I'd like to think it is because we've finally convinced them that council tax increases hit the vulnerable - the elderly and those on low incomes - hardest.  Sadly, I think that's an epiphany too far.  Because this is no normal year.

We'll be going to the polls within a few months, and the Labour Party are desperate not to scare the horses.  So, just as voters were right to ignore their wails when in previous years council tax was kept low, they would do well to note their quiescence now.  It doesn't mean they are suddenly converts to the cause of hard-pressed taxpayers: they are just hiding from us what they know we won't like.  And for Suffolk Labour read the national party, which was still trotting out the "Labour investment versus Tory cuts" line when they knew it to be untrue.  As the current tussle between the chancellor and prime minister shows only too well, the only argument within Labour is how big their lie on tax rises and spending cuts should be.  At least Suffolk Labour has opted for the lesser sin of lying by omission - by saying absolutely nothing at all.

So to the EADT's half-rhetorical question, "What will next year bring?", the answer will be given by 3rd June.  Much as everyone is fed up with politics, this is a decision that none of us can afford to avoid.