Lib Dems Demand an End to Unfair Post Office Council Tax Charge after Abolition Call Wins Widespread Support

The pressure on Bedford Borough Council's Mayor and Cabinet to remove the charge on council tax payments at the Post Office has increased further after a meeting of the full council backed a Lib Dem motion calling for its abolition.

The Mayor has indicated previously that the charge, which came into force in 2006 with the support of the Conservatives and Labour, will be reviewed following Liberal Democrat pressure. However, at Wednesday's meeting the Tory Cabinet Member for Finance argued against a reversal of the move that has added an extra £23.50 per year on top of the council tax bills of post office users. Along with the Mayor, he voted against the Lib Dem motion urging the removal of the charge.

Commenting, Bedford Borough Liberal Democrat Deputy Group Leader Cllr David Sawyer said: "I am very pleased that our call for the removal of the shameful council tax surcharge on local post office users has received such strong backing from councillors. To force local taxpayers to pay nearly £25 a year on top of rising council tax bills is deeply unfair, especially when the council subsidises all other methods of payment bar those made at the post office.'

"The charge has also been extremely damaging for our local post offices. They have had a range of services taken away by the Labour Government, only for the council to also take business away at a time when its support for local branches has been sorely needed. A further eight branches in the borough have just been closed, and if local and national government keep running them into the ground the closures will simply go on and on."

The introduction of the charge has seen the number of people using the Post Office in Bedford Borough to pay council tax bills plummet from over 5,000 per month to around 1,500. However, despite widespread backing for the Lib Dem campaign for its abolition at Wednesday's meeting, the Tory Cabinet Member for Finance continues to support the charge.

Commenting further, Cllr Sawyer said: "The opposition of the Tory Cabinet Member for Finance to free and fair council tax payments at the Post Office is typical of the approach of Conservatives, both local and national, to the plight of our post offices. Nationally, they closed 3,500 branches when in government. Locally, they voted to force an unfair charge on residents using the Post Office to pay their council tax bill. Now it appears that the Borough Council's Tory Cabinet Member for Finance is putting up a roadblock to the removal of that discredited charge. I only hope that the overwhelming support of the council for its abolition might cause him to re-think this indefensible position."