Cost of living emergency declared by South Cambridgeshire District Council - but Tory effort to oppose road charging defeated

A cost of living emergency was declared by South Cambridgeshire District Council, with councillors predicting that some people will face real hardship this winter.

There was cross party support for recognising the issues but division on how to address it.

At a full council meeting last week (September 22) Cllr John Williams (Lib Dem, Fen Ditton and Fulbourn) said he believed the government “was not doing enough” and the council needed to do “all that it can”.

Cllr Stephen Drew (Lib Dem, Cambourne) said it was a “national shame” and there was “no fundamental reason why this should be happening”.

Liberal Democrats put forward the motion to declare the emergency, stating that people on low incomes “will face unprecedented hardship this winter”.

It called on the chief executive to write to the government to ask it to reduce the standard rate of VAT, reintroduce the pensions triple lock, restore the Universal Credit £20 supplement and reverse cuts to working tax credit.

In an amendment agreed at the meeting, the motion also called for the October energy price freeze to be supplemented with an increase in financial support for households that rely on oil for heating, as well as doubling the Warm Homes Discount and extending those who qualify for it, and investing in insulating “leaky homes” to bring down costs in the long term.

The motion also proposed work the district council would do to help people, including “being mindful” of the costs of living crisis when setting next year’s council tax, as well as proposing to bring forward plans to amend the local council tax support scheme in the district to 100 per cent for working people.

Some of the other actions for the council to take included asking the cabinet to set up an advisory group to propose support for people in the district who were struggling with the cost of living crisis, and to work with partners to give access to affordable food across the district.

Amendments were proposed by the Conservative group, including that the letter calling for changes should be written by the leader and not the chief executive due to it being a “politically charged letter”.

The group also asked to change the call to reduce the standard rate of VAT to urging the government to consider reassessing the VAT rate on goods and services.

Cllr Heather Williams (Con, The Mordens), leader of the Tory opposition, said a reassessment could allow the VAT on some items to be decreased, but said she did not see why people buying some luxury items such as a sports car should be given a tax decrease.

She also urged the council to oppose the introduction of a daily £5 road user charge in Cambridge.

Cllr Williams said: “The things that we are adding on are real things that are in the control of this council and I think before we start throwing stones at what other people are doing we should be getting our own house in order.

“Putting congestion charging on top, and I do agree it is a cost of living crisis… I think the introduction of that is really irresponsible at this time.”

Cllr Williams said this was a “nice try” but said the council could not pre-judge the outcome of the expected consultation into the proposals.

The Conservative amendment did not receive enough support to be accepted. When the Liberal Democrat motion was put to a vote, a majority of councillors voted in favour.

The motion came the day before the Chancellor unveiled a huge package of tax cuts, including reducing the top rate of income tax from 45 per cent to 40 per cent for the highest earners. He also brought forward a cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19 per cent to April.