Greens welcome Mayor’s u-turn on council tax scheme
18.10.17
Responding to the news announced in the Mayor’s State of the city address [1] that the Mayor will not immediately scrap the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, Cllr Carla Denyer (Clifton Down) said,
“I warmly welcome the Mayor’s u-turn on this and congratulate the grass-roots campaign that has proven to be so successful. Greens have been campaigning alongside residents for months saying that cutting the scheme would have a devastating effect on the city’s most vulnerable residents. And while we welcome this 11th hour decision we are deeply concerned that the Mayor has put a proviso in to say it is saved “for this year at least”. I know that resident’s have been worrying about this and it seems astonishing that the Mayor still holds open the possibility that this will then be forced upon them next year.
She continued,
What we need now off the Mayor is a firm commitment that he will drop this policy once and for all. We are facing a cost of living crisis with growing numbers in Bristol resident’s forced out of their homes and onto our streets. It is the poorest in our communities who continue to suffer from the cuts the most and the last thing they need now is a Labour administration keeping a policy that cuts their support on the back burner”.
