News from Westminster Labour

Westminster Tories increase price of meals on wheels by 10%

Westminster’s Conservative stealth taxes would cost residents over £400 a year.

Westminster Conservatives’ decision to increase the price of meals-on-wheels by almost 10 per cent (from £2.30p to £2.55p) will cost elderly people an extra £91 a year, according to Labour Councillors who say that this latest stealth tax is a direct result of the Conservatives’ £17 million investment in now-failed Icelandic Banks and the recently-discovered £20 million hole in the Council’s budget.

The new Conservative stealth taxes, which would cost residents over £400 a year, include:

* On 1st December a new £20 tax on residents will be introduced to pay for the cost of the removal of bulky refuse.
* Earlier this year the Conservatives introduced a £1 a day tax on all motorbike owners to park their bikes in Westminster. Over a full year this amounts to a new tax of over £300.
* And recently a new tax of £10 was introduced on residents wanting to change their car parking details.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said:

“The 10% increase in the cost of meals on wheels is the latest example of Conservative stealth taxes which Westminster City Council has introduced to make residents pay for its financial blunders, including the £20 million hole in this year’s budget and last year’s inept investment of £17 million in now-failed Icelandic banks. As ever with Westminster Conservative, the elderly and the vulnerable are in the front line for price increases. So much for the talk of Westminster being a low tax Council or the Conservatives being the party of low taxes.”

Other news from Westminster Labour

• Labour's five point plan for fairer parking in Westminster - 15 March 2010
• 5-star dinner as Westminster's "Dinosaur" Conservatives axe hotlines - 12 March 2010
• Westminster Labour welcomes dog micro-chipping plan - 11 March 2010