Brent Liberal Democrats and Broken Promises: Council Tax

Yesterday's post got me thinking about the various broken promises of Brent Liberal Democrats at the last local elections in 2006. Above is the big one: Council Tax.

The Liberal Democrats, including Sarah Teather MP, near the centre above repeatedly promised to freeze Brent's Council Tax. Within weeks of taking office, Cllr Paul Lorber announced that he hadn't realised that the central government grant for 2007 would be the level it was (despite it having been announced in November 2005, six months before).

When it came to their first budget, they raised Council Tax by 4.9%, just below the level at which the government would cap it. Since then they have had two budgets, both putting the Council Tax up. In fact during their three years of office since 2006, they have put the Council Tax up by more than the amount the previous Labour Administration did during its last three years.