Shocking 10% Council Tax rise & large cuts by failing Labour councillors

"Council services are being cut, while the amount we pay for them is going up by 10%. None of the residents I spoke to felt that this sounded like a fair deal", said Matthew Taylor, Chair of Slough Lib Dems, shown in the photo leading a community litter pick in Cippenham.

Matthew Taylor was responding to Slough Council's Budget meeting for 2023/24 that was held on Thursday 9 March 2023 and confirmed the earlier Cabinet decisions.

Mathew continued, "It is shameful that Labour councillors at the Budget meeting just accepted the Council Tax rise and the big cuts in many vital services proposed by the Labour leadership of Slough Council. It is especially annoying that the tax rise and service cuts, such as ending weekly bin collections from June onwards, are only necessary to clean up the mess largely created by the mismanagement by Labour councillors in the first place."

Matthew asked, "Why did the Tory Government allow this shocking 10 % increase in Council Tax in the middle of the cost of living crisis that is already worse in the UK than elsewhere because of Tory policies? Is it because the Tories know they are also partly to blame for Slough's problems because of years of Tory Government cuts to the funding for local councils?"

Matthew continued: "Once again, hard working Slough council tax payers are having to pick up the bill for the financial incompetence of Slough's current Labour councillors who seem convinced that despite creating this mess, they should also be the ones to get the council out of it."

Matthew Taylor explained: "There are better ways forward for Slough Council than continued Labour failure. For example, the failing Labour leadership of Slough Council are probably missing out on millions of pounds. This is the money that many other councils collect from developers through the Community Infrastructure Levy to pay for local facilities in areas around their new buildings. The soon to be published Lib Dem manifesto for the Slough Council elections in May will explain how Slough could introduce this."

Matthew concluded: "It's time for a change in Slough. This can be done by voting out Labour councillors in May, and electing some Lib Dems. Please email me on info@sloughlibdems.org.uk if you would like to be considered as a andidate for the Lib Dems in the forthcoming local elections."