It was a fairly uneventful Full Council meeting last night; a couple of petitions, a couple of Portfolio Holders’ Reports, the usual bit of political knock-about and not much light shed on how Walsall can solve it’s financial problems. Its true, Cllr Ian Shires did make a rousing speech about how we didn’t have the infrastructure to deliver May’s ‘shared society’ and cuts ought to be targeted at the rich not the poor, but for me the most notable outcome of last night’s meeting was the Tory Leader Mike Bird’s admission that he would like to see money given through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme reduced to zero.

Currently this scheme ensures that the poorest council tax payers in our borough do not pay the full amount. Its true that because of the cuts to money received from the Government, what these residents have to pay now is closer to the rest than it was before. But what Mike Bird is saying is that (if he becomes Leader of the Council again) the poorest council tax payers will not be subsidised, and will pay the same rates that apply to everyone else. So while the rich are getting richer, he is content for the poor to get poorer? I think people should bear this in mind the next time they cast their vote.

Content published and promoted by Roy Sheward on behalf of Dan Barker (Liberal Democrats) all at 144 Redhouse Lane, Walsall, WS5 0DB