Opposition leader Peter Zinkin says Barnet Labour’s claims his party wants to hike up council tax by 50% over three years are ‘completely untrue’ reports David Floyd

Barnet Council's Colindale office and (inset) Tory group leader Peter Zinkin — Barnet Council’s Colindale office and (inset) Tory group leader Peter Zinkin

Barnet Conservatives have slammed the council’s Labour leadership over claims that the opposition is planning a huge increase in council tax if it wins the next election.

In their manifesto for tomorrow’s election, Barnet Labour states that: “The Barnet Conservatives’ proposal is to increase your council tax by more than 50% over the next three years. This is before they have done the hard work to cut costs and transform the Council’s services and budget.”

The ruling group doubled down on this claim in a post last week headlined “Barnet Conservatives’ Council Tax Bombshell” which states that the Tories “published their council tax bombshell in the illustrative model for their budget amendment” and that the opposition plans amount to “a total council tax increase of 53.9% or an increase of £874.59 for a band D household”.

However, Conservative opposition leader Peter Zinkin told Barnet Post that the figures were an illustration of the extent of the council’s financial difficulties, not a proposal for how his party planned to tackle them.

Cllr Zinkin said: “Barnet Labour are claiming that Barnet Conservatives proposed raising council tax by 50% over three years. This claim is completely untrue. A lie from a discredited and failing Labour Party.

“In our budget amendment we were issuing a warning about the scale of the financial crisis Labour has created. The national Labour government funding policy for Barnet is based on the council increasing council tax by around 30% to the national average. Even that would not be sufficient to close the budget gap without additional money from the Government.”

“We attacked Labour’s financial management and told Labour backbenchers the underlying position that their cabinet members have created.”

He added: “The irony is that it is the Labour run council that has been raising council tax every year since taking control in 2022, pushing increases to just below the legal maximum. In 2026/27 the rise was 4.98%, a fraction below the 4.99% threshold that would trigger the requirement for a local referendum.

“Barnet is in serious financial difficulty, having requested permission to borrow £55.7 million as Exceptional Financial Support to balance the books in 2025/26 and a further borrowing of £79.3 million for 2026/27. Labour is forecasting, in their budget, a deficit of £750m over the next 5 years. All these Labour borrowings will have to be repaid by Barnet residents.

“With dire polling, failing local MPs and failing councillors, this is a desperate lie by Barnet Labour. They lied about council tax before when they promised to return 1% of council tax to residents, and they are lying now in order to hide the truth about their own financial incompetence.”

Writing for Barnet Post in March following the passing of the council’s budget for 2025/26, council leader Barry Rawlings described Labour’s plans as a contrast to “the feckless Barnet Conservatives who ran away from financial oversight at the council”.

Full information on the candidates standing in tomorrow’s election is here.

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