Report back from Full Council 29th March

There were some good contributions from across the political spectrum on the need to support Ukraine. Five councillors present are not seeking re-election and they had a few minutes each to say their farewells.

Matt Lamb from Labour proposed a motion that called on our MD to lobby our local MP to do more to support the very many people who are currently being squeezed by the cost of living crisis especially with high energy costs.

We very much support the spirit of the motion and could agree with their suggestion about rent controls but we could not support their proposal on removing VAT on electricity and gas. Why so?

Labour’s proposal is to remove the 5% VAT on gas and electricity. For a modest home with a £3,000 annual bill saving 5% would make people better off by £150. However for a mansion with a swimming pool their bill will be more like £30,000 per annum so the 5% VAT saving would be giving them a massively reduced bill of £1,500. In a climate emergency this would be a crazy thing to do. Also £150 saving for those on more modest means facing such high increases in their fuel bills is not nearly enough. 

We agree that we should be doing a windfall tax on oil and gas drilling companies but the answer is not to cut VAT but to give every household the same fixed sum of say £400. This would give people in smaller homes a lot more spending power but also not give a massive tax cut to the wealthy mansion owner. Makes far more sense both financially and for the environment.

If you have the time and patience you can watch the full meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-mnMH-jQh8