Stockport council will aim to freeze council tax next year - but a 3.5pc cut proposed by the Conservatives has been dismissed as ‘fantasy economics’. Members backed calls for more to be done to help people cope with the cost of living crisis, with figures revealing more than 15,000 households in the borough are living in fuel poverty and 12pc are classed as ‘food poor’.
A motion, tabled by the Liberal Democrats at the latest full council meeting, urged the government to reinstate the pension ‘triple lock’ and impose a windfall tax on electricity firms, while also calling for the council to set up a ‘one stop shop’ offering financial advice on its website. But it was the proposal for a freeze in council tax that generated the most debate at the town hall on Thursday night.
Councillor Tom Morrison, moving the motion for the Lib Dem administration, said it was clear that, come the new financial year in April, many people would be in a worse situation than they are now. "At a time when people are choosing whether to heat their homes or feed their families it is incumbent on all of us to do all we can to lessen any further financial burden on the people we should be looking after,” he said.
