A unanimous decision was reached at City Council’s 2023/24 budget meeting despite an initial
failure to approve proposed amendments.
Wednesday’s meeting echoed a shared sentiment of continued budgetary pressures caused by a lack
of central government funding.
Cllr Terry Fox, the leader of the council, said: “Let’s not kid ourselves, every one of us has had to
make hard decisions, and compromises, to get ourselves into this position.
“We’ve never stood back from backing our communities and backing our local residents.”
This comes after the recent controversial increase of council tax to 4.99% – the legal limit
without having to trigger a referendum – and tight savings plans meant to boost a hole in
reserves created since last year.
In part, these pressures characterised the rest of the debate as all four parties failed to pass
any of the initial amendments.
Praise was given at the start of most of the councillors’ speeches, but it soon
became a contest of blame-shifting, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats in particular
going back and forth throughout the meeting.
Cllr Bryan Lodge spared no time in criticising both the Greens, with their tax-heavy approach to
parking and late-night levies, and the Liberal Democrats’ austerity-ridden policies.
He said: “The Green’s amendment seems to be a tax-everyone budget – it’s almost like the happy
police, they’re taxing everything.”
Cllr Lodge also addressed Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed’s comments on trade unions as a ‘sacred cow that
has never been touched’.
These comments were followed by targeting Labour’s decision to include reserves as a part of last
year’s budget while leaving smaller businesses to suffer the consequences.
Cllr Mohammed said: “Last year was quite a shocking place to be. The fact that you set budgets using
reserves – that is how you go bust.
“The problem with this council is that it keeps looking backwards. Times have changed, and this
council needs to change and unfortunately, the labour party has to be dragged, kicking and
screaming.”
Cllr Jayne Dunn, who spoke in direct response to Cllr Mohammed’s comments, said: “We need our
doctors, we need our teachers, we need our nurses to have more money in their pockets, so they
use the small businesses.
“Businesses don’t fail overnight; they have been chipped away over 13 years and you have got blood
on your hands there.”
The decision was finally reached after the meeting was paused and the parties agreed to a 5th
amendment designed to incorporate the strengths of all its predecessors.
