In recent discussions about the inequities of council tax (Letters, 5 March), I am surprised that no one has referred to the almost identical struggles faced by George Lansbury in Poplar, east London, a century ago. The council there was faced with the similar problem of a poor community being expected to pay for the care of those needing help, whom it had in greater numbers than its richer neighbours.
Nottingham has more houses paying low council tax than its richer suburbs, which enjoy the city’s facilities without the pain of paying for them, so a similar rate of tax for each would bring in much less per head in the city. At the same time, the city attracts rough sleepers, and others needing help, from outside.
In punishment for this state of affairs, we have been sent commissioners to take over our accounts and balance them by cuts to all that makes a city civilised. We are having to pay them handsomely, at more than £1,000 a day each, for doing this.
Lansbury led the Poplar council members to jail for their refusal to comply, but their sacrifice sparked a popular reaction that ultimately changed the law to enable the equitable sharing of money from the richer and poorer boroughs to meet the problems.
The present government has systematically chipped away at this shared responsibility until we are once again in Lansbury’s dilemma of a century ago.
June Perry
Nottingham
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