Mrs May made a bold pledge to bring a decade of austerity to a close at the Conservative Conference back on the 3rd October. Well there wasn’t much sign of that happening when Walsall’s Tory Cabinet met just 21 days later on the 24th October to discuss their Council Tax Budget.

As a direct result of continuing Government austerity measures the Council has to find a further £20 million in 2019/20 to cover the reduction in the grant that it receives from Westminster. Putting it bluntly, Walsall receives almost £200 million less from central government now than it did just under 10 years ago, in-spite of massive increases in the cost of Adult and Children’s Services.

As well as having to make damaging cuts to some of the Council’s most needed services Walsall’s Tories are also proposing to increase the Council Tax you pay by 2.99% each year till at least 2022.

District Centres like Willenhall will also bear the brunt of some of the cuts. The Tories are looking to reduce spending on markets including cutting back on street cleansing in-spite of being able to find £50,000 to fund increased street cleansing in Walsall town centre.

Local Tories can moan as much as they like. It’s their Government, which in spite of saying otherwise, is continuing to apply austerity cuts to council budgets.

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