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‘Bully boy’ Pickles gets tax blame
A SENIOR councillor has hit out at “bullying” tactics from central Government after a North Yorkshire local authority was forced into a last minute U-turn on its proposals to raise council tax by 2.5 per cent next year.
Scarborough Council’s cabinet yesterday agreed to freeze council tax, despite initially aiming to raise it by as much as three per cent, following mounting pressure from Eric Pickles over its plans.
Councillor Bill Chatt, independent cabinet member for housing, public health, property maintenance and sustainability, yesterday told the Yorkshire Post the authority made the decision after being warned it would face further cuts in Government funding.
“This is just storing up major problems for the future and we will have to pay for it,” he said.
“This Government has already got local authorities by the throat with its cuts and now we have got this.
“It is simply bully boy tactics from Eric Pickles.
“We have been forced into a decision by central Government.”
York and Richmondshire District Councils are pushing ahead with plans to raise their council tax, saying doing otherwise will hugely increase the pressure on budgets in years to come.
Leaders of some of the region’s largest councils, including Leeds and Wakefield, have already warned it would be “political suicide” for them not to take the Government’s offer.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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ThomWiseman
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:04 PMGood job that Eric Pickles did use Bully Boy tactics to stop them trying to screw more council tax to be frivolous with.
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