Local Conservative MP embarrasses tax-rising Westminster Council

6.21.19pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 1st Apr 2007

Whoops! Mark Field MP must think Westminster Tories just don't measure up

Local Tory MP Mark Field has sponsored a Commons motion calling on the Mayor of London to "learn the lesson" that "better services can be provided at the same time as lower taxes" - just as Council Tax bills from Conservative-held Westminster Council have risen more than nine other London boroughs.

Mr Field's half-baked attack on the Mayor comes only days after local Liberal Democrats slammed the Council's "simply untrue" boast to have posted a tax rise that was "among the lowest in the country".

Mark Blackburn, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the Council by-election in Westminster 's Abbey Road ward on Thursday 3 May, said:

"The Conservatives can't seem to stop putting their foot in it when it comes to the Council Tax. First they use a taxpayer-funded Council publication to claim, completely wrongly, that they have posted a tax rise among the lowest in the country, when it's actually higher than nine other councils in London alone.

"Then we find out that, according to an official estimate, Westminster doesn't manage to collect payment for one in 25 Council Tax bills. That is one of the worst records in London. Now their MP wades in to make a fool of himself.

"The MP clearly thinks that higher taxes demonstrate inefficiency. Well, I guess that means he doesn't think much of the tax rise his fellow Conservatives have just given the residents of Westminster .

"The Tories have controlled Westminster Council for decades. They have grown lazy and flabby. They need a shock to their system. On 3 May the voters of Abbey Road ward get a chance to elect a new councillor. Let us hope that voters give the tax-rising Tories the shock they deserve."

Currently, 35 MPs have signed the House of Commons motion [Early Day Motion 562] that was sponsored by Mark Field.