Cllr Peter Zinkin says Labour’s first budget for 14 years will do major harm to the borough

Barnet Conservative leader Cllr Peter Zinkin

Labour’s budget shows what many of us in Barnet already knew: Labour is bad for Barnet, Labour is bad for families, residents, and local businesses.

Barnet has around 26,000 small businesses employing around 130,000 people. Labour’s National Insurance hike will damage many of these much-loved businesses. It will affect the future wage growth of their employees in Barnet.

The IFS and the OBR have both confirmed that this is the cost of Labour’s reckless borrowing and high taxes. Labour have also decided to attack around 40,000 pensioners in Barnet by stripping them of their winter fuel allowance as we’re about to go into winter. Callous and unconscionable.

Labour have attacked our local schools by introducing VAT on school fees. If that was not enough, they have also decided to remove the business rates relief that these schools get. Schools that will be affected by this in Barnet are not the Harrows or Etons of the world but small independent schools such as the many religious schools we have here in Barnet.

These schools educate around 3000 young people and are vital to our communities. The government’s impact assessment states: ‘’a greater degree of impact may be felt by faith school pupils if they cannot be placed in an alternative school with the same religious denomination.’’

We know the council is already stretched in terms of its provision for education in Barnet and this educational tax could lead to children flooding into the state school system, putting further pressure on our teachers and further hindering pupils’ ability to be educated in accordance with their religious ethos.

Every young person wants a chance to get onto the property ladder. Under the last government, first-time buyers were exempt from stamp duty on their first homes to enable young people to get a step closer to the property ladder. By removing this tax break Labour have also decided to attack our aspirational young people and young families.

As reported by Barnet Post in September, first-time buyers in Barnet spent around £480,000 on a new home in July; they paid around £3,000 on stamp duty under the Conservatives. Under Labour, they will pay around £9,000 – a three-times increase.

On the funding given to local government, we welcome that the government has decided, in line with the previous Conservative government, to provide extra funding to local authorities. We emphatically welcome the extra funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

There are severe pressures on local authorities when it comes to SEND spending and we hope any extra monies will help alleviate these pressures. In Barnet, we hope these extra monies will encourage Barnet’s Labour council to reverse the cruel SEND transport cut that they included in last year’s budget.

Barnet is a successful borough when it comes to children’s educational services and children’s services as a whole. The pressures on fostering and looked-after children are felt heavily by all parties in the council so any extra funds or any reform to help these children get into safe and secure homes will be supported by all parties.

We welcome any mention of extra funds for affordable housing. We are troubled by the right to buy reforms. One of Barnet’s former MPs, Baroness Thatcher, implemented the Right to Buy scheme to allow people in council homes to have the ability to own their own homes. The changes to Right to Buy are troubling and are an attack on those in social and council housing who want to aspire to own their own homes.

The government announced an increase in National Insurance contributions. Barnet council employs around 3,500 people, and any increase in National Insurance contribution will have a significant impact on the budget of our council. As such, we seek confirmation that councils will be protected from the extra cost.

In December we expect the local government settlement to be announced. The impact on Barnet’s budget will then be clear. With the record of this Labour government so far, we cannot be optimistic and fear the impact on future service delivery in Barnet.

Barnet also has six or seven working family farms. Labour’s changes to inheritance tax will put the future of these family farms in danger.

This budget attacked pensioners with the winter fuel allowance, families with the changes to inheritance tax, small businesses with hikes in National Insurance contributions, first-time buyers with changes to stamp duty, farmers and religious education.

Both nationally and locally, Labour is bad for Barnet.

Cllr Peter Zinkin is leader of the Conservative group on Barnet Council.

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