Conservatives could be set to face an election "hammering" in the May council elections, as even hard line Tories now question whether councillors on the coalition at HBC have gone too far !
Saturday 28th Jan 2023 08:05am
Hard-line Tory voters in Hartlepool are said to be fearing a collapse of support, following this week’s controversial decision to raise council taxes in the borough by almost 5%, a move some believe may lead to the Conservatives losing control of the local council in May.
It comes as councillors voted 17-13 to increase council tax in the area by 4.9%, equating to around an extra £60.00 a year put on top of the average household council tax bill for a band A property, but the move was slammed by opposition Labour councillors who claim that genuine proposals put forward by the Labour Group that could have saved the authority hundreds of thousands of pounds were “brushed to one side” in favour of what’s been described as “crippling” tax increases.
Councillors on the Conservative coalition on Hartlepool Borough Council which is currently held together through the agreement of a number of independents sought to defend the decision to increase households bills to some of their highest levels seen in decades, blaming the current issue of inflation & interest rates causing the councils deficits to increase exponentially to just over ten million pounds,
Councillors on he coalition claimed that if they'd failed to push through the controversial proposals, the council would have almost certainly been looking at bankruptcy within months.
Labour argued the move would simply pile further pressure on already overstrained households, with the increase likely to force many households further below the poverty line with it being revealed that Hartlepool now has almost 50% of its households in the area with children living either below or well below the poverty line.
Spending cuts of approximately £1.7 Million Pounds were also approved at the same meeting, with the conservatives then being rapped for a number of social media posts just hours after the meeting concluded over how Labour councillors voted against the proposals, with even hard line Conservatives branding the move as “childish” & “immature”….
There's signs emerging the Tory / Indi coalition wont last much longer than May 2023 before it all falls apart.
"Hung with their own rope", claims the coalition at HBC has just "months" left in it following this weeks controversial council tax rise.
Such the controversial nature of the most recent Council Tax increase its reportedly said to have shown the first fractures of the Conservative / Indi coalition beginning to form, with claims even some hard-line Conservatives in the local party are now starting to question just how long the coalition at HBC can last whilst pushing through plans that financially are hitting the poorest the hardest.
Where's Jill they all ask ?, not in the UK for sure !
Whilst the UK pushes to leave the EU, she goes looking for a job to keep us in it,
Conservative support of the towns MP Jill Mortimer is also said to be plummeting, as many find that the MP that was supposed to be representing the town & its best interests has been largely out of the country taking up a role with the European Council, something that’s angered many conservative members who believe her inactivity in the town is once again giving voters excuses not to vote conservative at the local elections in May.
Locals will go to the polls in May to elect a 3rd of the council onto which many claim will see Labour bag considerable gains in the town....
Locals are set to go to the polls in just a few months’ time, with both sides very much aware that the balance of the council now rests on either party managing to grab much needed council seats in order to destabilise the status quo & potentially see another political shift in the council chamber where despite claims emerging that it may just go down to one or two independents to swing it either way, a considerable loss of conservative councillors in May’s elections…… & it’s all over for the coalition at HBC.
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