Labour Councillors in Southwark have voted against proposals put forward by the Liberal Democrats to reverse social care cuts and provide additional council tax support.
At Wednesday’s budget-setting full council meeting, the Liberal Democrat opposition group proposed an amendment that would provide an additional £150 of council tax relief to working age residents in receipt of council tax reduction.
The amendment also would have reversed a £2m reduction in the social care budget, which the local Equalities and Human Rights Panel warned would “have an impact in the protected characteristics of age, disability and race”.
The Liberal Democrat proposals also included setting up a ‘Southwark Voluntary Fund’ that would distribute resident donations to charities and organisations helping vulnerable people throughout the borough.
The proposals were fully costed and deliverable through efficiencies in internal council budgets and innovate income generating policies such as a pilot tourist tax scheme.
Labour councillors voted unanimously against the amendment.
Southwark Liberal Democrat councillor and parliamentary spokesperson Rachel Bentley, who proposed the amendment, said Labour had “shamefully let down the most vulnerable across the borough”.
Commenting, Cllr Rachel Bentley, deputy leader of the Southwark Liberal Democrats said:
“The Southwark Liberal Democrats put forward a credible, deliverable and bold plan to help those who need it most. By cutting back on council waste and showing ambition in income generation, the council could have frozen council tax for the most vulnerable and reversed damaging cuts to our already struggling social care services.
Labour’s shameful decision to reject these proposals will leave the most vulnerable in our borough bearing the brunt of the chronic under-funding of local government by the Conservative government.”
