Prescott: We will cap council tax if needed
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has warned local authorities that he will cap council tax increases if necessary.
In a bullish address to the Labour Party Spring Conference, Mr Prescott told activists that “we will cap authorities if we have to”, but stressed he believed “we’re heading for the lowest council tax increase for a decade”.
He admitted that there was a problem with the current council tax structure, but said Labour would not introduce the local income tax scheme favoured by the Liberal Democrats, nor would they cut public services.
In a rallying call to party activists, he said Labour had the best leader and the best policies: “But we need to have the best organisation for campaigning and getting our message across.
“I can’t wait to get on my battle bus again, I’m ready to go”.
Mr Prescott said that Labour must “go after every single vote” and warned that though the polls place Labour ahead, in 1970 Labour were 16 points ahead but still lost the election.
“This is an election as much about turnout as anything else”, he said, adding: “If people abstain in the belief that Labour will win they would wake up to a Tory government.”
As such, “we need to get that fear factor going.”
The pledge cards are not a “propaganda tool” but instead a “measure of our success and credibility”.
Things had got better in Britain he said – cheekily telling his audience not to forget the fox that “got a right to roam with Labour”.
A whole generation of children was now reaching adulthood knowing only a Labour government, he said. And he urged activists to “get out and explain to young people: That the country they know now is not the same country into which they were born.”
Arguing Britain is better now because “Labour, together with the British people, decided to make it better.”
On housing, he said that Labour was not extending the Right to Buy, which he claimed had cost £40 billion in subsidy and 1.8 million homes out of the public sector.
Instead a “fairer” system would be created, with all receipts going to local authorities to reinvest. Homes, he said, would be sold to first-time buyers for the construction price on £60,000.
Mr Prescott urged all local authorities to start using their surplus land to help people get a foot on the housing ladder.
But, his Conservative Shadow, Caroline Spelman, said that there were major questions still to be answered about Labour’s housing policy.
Ms Spelman said: “His plans for building on the countryside are flawed regardless of whether he can find someone to build houses for £60 000 or not. The public sector land he plans to use for cut-price housing has already been earmarked for sale by the Chancellor – the red book shows revenue of £30 billion over five years. If the Chancellor has sold it, how is Mr Prescott going to build on it?”
She added: “Mr Prescott has failed to answer this fundamental question and until he does so his housing policy will continue to be one of chaos and confusion.”
