Council leader angry at government for cost-of-living crisis

Her comments came during a meeting of the council’s executive on October 12 at which members approved an action plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. 

The executive had decided last month to consider which measures could be taken, and a working group has been established that will report regularly to the executive. 

Measures in the action plan include: 

• Providing a cost-of-living hub on the council website to provide residents with reliable information 
• Working with partners including Citizens Advice to offer residents a financial MOT service 
• Working with partners to develop a ‘warm spaces’ initiative, using public and community buildings to provide spaces for residents to keep warm 

An existing project to upgrade the insulation of around 400 council homes is also ongoing.

Cllr Robin Parker speaking at the council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. Credit: Stevenage Borough Council (Image: Stevenage Borough Council)

Cllr Robin Parker, leader of the Liberal Democrat group in the council, questioned the ‘warm spaces’ proposal at a meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on October 18. 

He said: “It’s the evening, isn’t it, when people are going to be particularly cold - is it likely that older people in particular will want to go out of their homes to a communal building that could be some distance away when they may not be very mobile, in order to access a warm space?” 

Cllr Taylor, who represents the Labour party, said at the executive meeting that the council would aim to “make sure we mitigate this [the cost-of-living] as much as possible”. 

“We don’t sit around and wring our hands here, we try and do something about it,” she said. 

She said there was a “terrible perfect storm of stuff that’s all happening at the same time”, including rising costs of energy, food, fuel and mortgages caused in part by Brexit, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and “the ongoing residual impact from the Covid-19 pandemic”. 

Cllr Taylor also pinned the blame for the rising cost-of-living on the Conservative government.

She said: “This was all bad enough anyway and some of it is caused by external causes … but it’s been exacerbated greatly by the actions of the Prime Minister and the [then] chancellor making a reckless fiscal event which has greatly exacerbated the very serious issues. 

“For those people who are now experiencing huge increases in their mortgage costs … that is driven directly by the actions of the UK government.” 

Later in the meeting, Cllr Taylor said that she was worried about people not being able to afford to heat, cook or look after themselves, adding: “This is like going back to the 18th century, and I feel really angry that government has lost control of the economy in this way … it’s infuriating.”

Cllr Phil Bibby at the recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Credit: Stevenage Borough Council (Image: Stevenage Borough Council)

Cllr Phil Bibby, leader of the Conservative group in the council, gave the Comet this statement in response to Cllr Taylor’s comments: “I, my local councillor and parliamentary colleagues sympathise with those struggling with the cost of living crisis, but it must be acknowledged that this is mainly down to external, global influences. 

“It is unfortunate that following Rishi Sunak’s commitment of £37bn to help struggling families and the recent Energy Price Cap agreed, the ill-considered mini budget caused such financial turmoil. 

“I am pleased that this has now, in the main, been reversed, with the markets responding more positively, but would point out that the interest rate rises were not unexpected, given the global increases seen. 

“I know that the [national] leadership are committed to helping people through the crisis but, regrettably, this is far from being an easy job as, at the same time, inflation needs to be brought under control – increased wages, pensions and benefits are, in themselves, inflationary.” 

This contrasts with Cllr Bibby’s comments last month, when he told the Comet that the “tax cutting strategy” announced in the government’s mini-budget would “help residents even further”.