Scrap Council Tax - Federal Conference Harrogate

Speech by Andrew Houseley delivered to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference Representatives on Sun 6th Mar 2005

"Conference:

In Suffolk, we've campaigned consistently to scrap Council Tax and it'll be one of our main themes again in this year's elections - County and Parliamentary.

Now, in 1 or 2 local by-elections, the Tories have said in their 'blue nasties,' those eve-of-poll leaflets designed to firm up their wavering vote, 'Don't be distracted by the Liberals' call to create a Local Income Tax, your vote in this election won't affect that.'

Well, I didn't know they cared

Council Tax:

Created by the Tories

Shamelessly exploited by Labour

A body blow for pensioners and really hard for anyone on a modest income - and there plenty of those people where I come from, pensioners and those on a modest income.

In the East of England, Council Tax is a major issue. The settlement of December 2002, combined with new requirements particularly in Social Care, and a redistribution of government funding to the North and Midlands, forced all County Councils in the Region into massive hikes, regardless of political control. And that higher threshold is inevitably still felt today.

"Axe the Tax" say Andrew and Lib Dem County Councillors

To get out of this quagmire requires a national solution. But be in no doubt: Every vote for the Liberal Democrats in this year's elections is a vote to scrap this hated tax and replace it with a fair system based on people's ability to pay.

Sounds familiar? Well, unlike the Tories, Liberal Democrats have much to inform the electorate about making their vote count. 14 years ago, our Local Income Tax policy was good enough to win us a by-election in Ribble Valley, and that win was swiftly followed by Tories scrapping the Poll Tax and introducing Council Tax, a stop-gap measure that thanks to Gordon Brown has grown into a monster.

And as revaluation looms, potentially a mutation of the monster, we can make it happen again, but this time with a better outcome.

The Tories have no credible answer. Re-introduce the Poll Tax, that was a faux pas, quickly retracted. Then months of silence. And now, discounts for pensioners, part of a raft of dubiously costed measures and less effective at cutting pensioner poverty than our proposals.

If we make scrapping Council Tax part of an integrated campaign in the general and local elections, a policy that will liberate financing of local services after years under the government cosh:

Now that's something to get out and vote for.

Thank You."