Give us our money back - NOW

Labour has welcomed the announcement that the Conservatives on Ealing Council will pay back £50 to local taxpayers.

The announcement, made at the last Council meeting, was explained as having resulted from a windfall of £4.6 million that had been lost but now found in the Council’s accounts.  A further £2 million has been lost but is unlikely to be recovered following an investment by the Conservatives in a dodgy Icelandic bank.  Last year a Labour offer to help go through the accounts line by line to find savings was brusquely rejected.

In welcoming the £50 payback, Labour’s Julian Bell said: “We have been pushing the Conservatives to cut the Council Tax for more than a year.  They said they couldn’t and wouldn’t but now they have finally unclenched their tight-fisted hands from the public purse and given residents some of their money back.  I am sure every resident will join me in saying ‘thank you’, it was our money anyway, but thanks for giving it back”.

However, Labour has criticised the Conservatives for delaying the payment in an attempt to look like Father Christmas and for failing to cut the Council tax – paying it back through the council tax collection system would have been quicker and cheaper.  Labour has also warned the Conservatives not to spend taxpayers’ money advertising their ‘generosity’.

“It is totally ridiculous to delay paying residents until December in an attempt to look like Father Christmas.  The Conservatives should have cut the Council Tax as we suggested.  I am very concerned that the Conservatives will waste taxpayers money with more glossy advertising about how generous they are – this money was taxpayers’ money all along, they should have it back now”, said Cllr Bell