Is the Mob’s Budget lawful Other Council’s think not?

 

Joshua 6:1–27

In a hail of trumpets from the Morpeth Mob in charge at county Hall in Northumberland the 2023/4 budget slipped through on the back of indifferent abstinence from Independent Councillors, the broken LibDems and the Greens. 

Luckily for the Labour Councillors they voted against the budget for several reasons including the raising of Council house rents by 7% and maintenance charges by 11.5% supposedly to move £17m into Council house repairs. Surprisingly (not) Michael Gove turned up the very next day and gifted the area with the most Council housing in the county the same amount to, wait for it, repair Council Houses. Showing up the mob less than 24hrs after they conned acceptance of the budget.

Labour talked about the cuts to social care packages already in place and the lack of benefits for those in need etc., in their speeches against this budget but they also had a little bit of luck or it may be lucky in the future, the budget contained a doubling of Council Tax on second homes across the County. A decision that could possibly lead to court for those who supported this decision.

One of the newly formed giant unitary County Council’s Westmorland and Furness Council, which covers most of the Lake District, the local authority voted to double council tax bills for second homeowners. It is the latest council in an area popular with holiday homeowners to introduce such a measure as part of efforts to prevent local people from being priced out of the places they grew up in. 

Unlike Northumberland Westmorland and Furness had taken professional legal advice over this decision which led officers to advise Council that they can only introduce it from next year if Michael Gove, the minister for levelling up changes his levelling up bill, to give local authorities more powers to levy this tax locally.

Pressure is now on Gove from second home owners nationally of whom many are also members of the Tory Party, to sink these ideas and force Councils who believe they have problems with second homes to apply for a share of the £1Bn unspent affordable homes fund and build new homes in villages which will enable those who feel pushed out to get back to their roots.

It's certainly a space worth watching and we all know that Northumberland has a long coastline where the Home offices suggested hulk-ship jails can be sited to house any law breaking Councillors.