PRESS RELEASE
Issued by:
Councillor Stuart Kelly
Leader, Liberal Democrat Group
Date of Issue: Nov 8th 2005
Contact numbers:
0151 653 9077
07771 981 045

TORIES' ‘TOTAL CONFUSION' OVER REVALUATION

Only a few short weeks after calling for Council Tax revaluation to be scrapped, Wirral's Conservatives have been left with egg on their faces following a blunder by their MPs.

Wirral Liberal Democrats today accused Conservatives of ‘total confusion' and ‘breathtaking incompetence' after an embarrassing Parliamentary gaffe in which the Conservatives moved an amendment effectively supporting revaluation.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Wirral Council, Stuart Kelly , said,

“At the last Council meeting Wirral Conservatives were quick to reject accusations of opportunism when they opposed revaluation, but their actions in Parliament last night confirm just that.

“Their own MPs moved an amendment which, if passed, would have meant that Council Tax Revalution would have gone ahead in 2007 - against the Tories' own policy.

“This breathtaking incompetence reveals just how desperate they are to jump on the revaluation bandwagon.
“ It also shows the true state the Conservative Party is in. They're in total confusion over council tax revaluation - despite what Wirral Conservatives might claim.

“This is the seventh position the Conservatives have adopted on this issue.

“The only thing we know for sure is that they invented council tax and they intend to keep it. After all, Michael Howard said during the election that council tax is the fairest form of local taxation there is.

“Liberal Democrats on the other hand have been principled and consistent, arguing for a Local Income Tax every year since 1983.”

Conservative MPs tabled a 'reasoned amendment' to the second reading of the bill to cancel revaluation. If this had passed, the bill would have fallen, and therefore revaluation would have gone ahead in 2007.

ENDS

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