Agenda item

To be moved by Councillor A Carter and seconded by Councillor Tarmey.

An amendment to the original motion was accepted by the mover and seconder of the original Motion and, therefore, further to Procedure Rule 18(14) the amendment was incorporated into the Motion for debate (inclusions highlighted in bold italics). 

The original Motion and amendment were moved by Councillor A Carter and Councillor Tarmey.

That this Council notes that:

1.    ?The Labour Party won a majority in the 2024 general election to form the Government of the UK with a ?manifesto that included a pledge not to increase taxes for working people.

2.    ??There was no manifesto commitment to the removal of universal winter fuel payments for pensioners.

3.    ??Rotherham Labour Group proposed a motion in recent years condemning the removal of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, which was passed by the Council.

4.    ??Inflation has recently returned to below the Bank of England target, and this has happened more rapidly than forecast earlier this year which provides the government with more fiscal headroom to support working people.

5.    The Government has announced they are going to increase the bus fare cap to £3 per journey in 2025.

6.    The Government has announced that regulated rail fares in England are to rise by 4.6% from 2nd March 2025.

7.    The Government has chosen to keep a freeze on the personal allowance until 2028/29 financial year, increasing the amount of tax working people on the national living wage will pay.

8.    The Chancellor has listened to Liberal Democrat calls for an increase in the carer’s allowance earning threshold, meaning that 60,000 more carers will be able to keep Government support while continuing to work.

9.    The Government’s Budget will “leave the size of the economy largely unchanged at the end of the five-year forecast period”, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility analysis.

That this Council believes that:

1.    ?Promises made in an election manifesto of a party who wins a parliamentary majority should not be broken.

2.    ??Self-employed people, and employees of small and medium sized businesses are ‘working people’.

3.    ??Self-employed people may be liable for employee and employer national insurance contributions.

4.    ??The private sector is an essential part of our economy and is key to economic growth, job creation, and revenue for the Treasury.

5.    ??Increasing the tax burden for the self-employed and small and medium sized businesses risks fewer jobs, lower growth, and redundancies.

6.    The Government should reinstate the Universal Credit uplift as the council resolved in recent years.

7.    The borough’s three MPs - John Healey, Sarah Champion and Jake Richards - were wrong to vote to remove universal winter fuel payments for pensioners.

8.    Working people who use public transport should not be made to pay above inflation bus and train fare increases to get to work.

9.    It is wrong that low-income working people will have to pay more tax due to this Budget.

10.Carers in receipt of carer’s allowance should be able to work alongside their care responsibilities, without being penalised for doing so.

Therefore, this Council resolves to:

1.    Ask group leaders to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the borough’s three MPs, asking them to oppose hikes to tax and national insurance for the self-employed and small to medium sized businesses.

2.    ??Express its regret that the borough’s three MPs voted to remove universal winter fuel payments.

3.    ??Ask group leaders to write the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the borough’s three MPs to ask them to reinstate the Universal Credit uplift, and to oppose above inflation train and bus fare increases.

On being put to the vote the Motion fell.