Sunderland councillors agree to fight any 'second layer of council tax'
Sunderland councillors have said they will oppose any future council tax precept if it is ever proposed by the region’s mayor.
The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (NEMSA) is jointly run by the Mayor Kim McGuinness and the leaders of seven councils, including Sunderland City Council, with several aims including improving infrastructure and creating jobs.
Although the mayoral authority has the legal power to levy a precept on council tax bills, in the same way police and fire authorities do, a spokesperson said NEMSA has “no plans” to do so.
At a full city council meeting, however, Reform UK, Liberal Democrats and Labour councillors all backed a motion entitled “say no to a mayoral council tax”.
The original motion, launched by the opposition Wearside Liberal Democrats, asked the council to write to the North East Mayor to ask her to rule out introducing a mayoral precept.
It also called on the leader of the council, and anyone deputising for the leader when attending NEMSA meetings, to “oppose the introduction of a mayoral precept on council tax bills.”
Councillor Paul Edgeworth, leader of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, said that there was a “huge risk” that bus franchising in the North East “cannot be delivered without introducing a new level of mayoral council tax in order to staff and run a publicly-run bus network”.
He added: “We also know that the Labour government regularly claims to be increasing funding for councils, for the police and for fire and rescue services, but in practice that only happens because they’re allowed to hike council tax each and every year to boost core spending power.
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“This isn’t sustainable for individuals and families that are struggling to make ends meet and who feel like they aren’t getting value for money from these services already”.
The opposition leader Cllr Edgeworth said it was important that the council makes it clear that it opposes the North East Mayor, or her successor, “introducing a second layer of council tax for the sake of it.”
Councillor Andrew Ramsey, deputy Reform UK council leader and cabinet member for corporate services and local government efficiency, launched an amendment to “strengthen” the original motion.
This included calling for a cross-party effort to oppose a mayoral precept by asking opposition group leaders to write to the North East Mayor requesting that a precept is ruled out.
Cllr Ramsey told the meeting: “I don’t think any elected member in this house should support this at all.
“I think we should send a big message to the national Government and show a unified front as Sunderland and reject this on behalf of our residents.”
The amended motion won support across the council chamber and was backed by the leaders of the council’s Reform UK, Liberal Democrat and Labour groups.
A spokesperson for the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, in a statement after the council meeting, said: “There are no plans to introduce a precept and there never have been.
“We don’t understand what has motivated this motion.”