Evidence of Rip-Off in Council Tax Benefit Replacement

Following my visit to one of the consultation events last week one or two more snippets have emerged in a Post article.

At the consultation event the facillitators confirmed that the cuts described in the consultation exercise did amount to the £6m allegedly being cut from Council Tax Support. I asked about removing discounts for empty properties and was told that was completely separate, no decisions had been made and clear attempts were made to steer the conversation elsewhere.

Well, the Post no states that the NCC has decided to remove all empty homes discounts which means it has got an extra £2 1/4m to play with. So why does it still want to cut £6m from Council Tax Support at the expense of the worst off in Nottingham? And why was this not in the consultation?

The answer, I believe, is that the Politburo did not want us riff-raff benefit claimants to know that there was no need to cut Council Tax Support so much and they could use the money to glad-rag their businessmen friends, pay for plastic policemen and other pet projects, while sending the bailiffs out after the likes of us who won't be able to pay.

The truth is that Collins and Chapman don't give a shit about the poor and it's all crocodile tears. The Tory decision to protect pensioners is just as helpful to them as the government because, in local as well as national elections, pensioners are among the groups most likely to vote. Poor people, on the other hand are much less likely to vote so dump the cuts on them, blame central government and there should be minimum disruption with the 'project'.