Green Party councillors have put forward proposals at the Bradford Council Budget meeting, showing that more could have been done to avoid the 10% council tax increase – which is the highest in the country.
Green Councillors have made it clear that they would not support any budget “where Bradford residents are being forced to foot the bill for the failures of this Labour administration.”
Councillor Matt Edwards (Tong Ward) said, “This Labour administration missed opportunity after opportunity to stop this situation getting as bad as it is now – and they failed. The warning signs were there years ago – but Labour ignored them. They failed to grasp just how bad things were.
“Over the last 15 years, cuts by the previous Conservative government have meant all councils have not been funded properly – but some like Bradford are in a worse position because of how badly they have been run.
“At every election campaign, Labour promise they are going to fix the financial mess councils like Bradford are in. But since the Labour Government were elected, we haven’t really seen much change. In fact, now they want Bradford residents to pay more to fix the mess the Labour administration has gotten us in.”
The Green Party, who are the third largest group on Bradford Council, submitted proposals that show additional savings were possible and this could have reduced the council tax rise by close to 1%.
Green councillors recognized that their proposals wouldn’t fully prevent the 10% increase, but they do show that the Labour administration could have done more to reduce outgoings and avoid such a large rise.
Councillor Neil Whitaker (Craven Ward), the Green Party finance lead, said,
“Our two proposals alone could have been used to reduce Labour’s proposed council tax rise by close to 1%.
“We are absolutely aware that this is not enough, but it is a start. With the time, resources and access to officers that the Labour councillors had, we are confident that more savings could have been found.
“We would have done what it took to have spared our district’s residents from this devastating council tax rise – at a time when many of our residents are already struggling.
“We were the only party to put forward any alternative proposals, which reflects just how dire our council’s finances are. But also shows how seriously we take our role as opposition councillors.”