Neil Adams, Socialist Party member in Windsor
Residents of the Liberal Democrat controlled Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are to face another council tax rise above the so-called maximum 4.99%.
The Labour government has granted the council the power to raise the tax by 7.49% from April 2026 (one of seven councils that have received this permission), following last year’s increase of 8.99%.
The council’s excuse is that the borough has a council tax level below average. And changes to the allocation of grant funding this year will see them £30 million worse off: “one of the biggest losers nationally”.
The council’s draft budget for 2026-27 states that the council will have a £50 million shortfall in funding that, they say, will increase to £112 million by 2030-31 if rises are kept at the standard 4.99%.
They will also, yet again, be looking to the government for Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) which is a form of government loan. This is granted to councils that are in danger of having to issue a section 114 notice, creating a repayment burden in future budgets.
So, on the cards will be years of further exorbitant council tax rises until we are at the same crippling levels seen elsewhere. Added to this, the council plans to implement £8.8 million in ‘savings’ (cuts to you and me) for 2026-27 with around three quarters of this targeting health and social care.
Contrast this with the nauseating opulence of the royal family residing here at our expense, facing no kind of funding shortfall or being asked to pay more for less!
We need councillors that are prepared to use spending powers to set no-cuts budgets and build a fight back to demand the actual funding needed from central government, rather than EFS loans and tax hikes!
