Today an article in the Daily Telegraph has been published announcing the Liberal Democrat party policy that we are now in favour of removing of the Student exemption to council tax. I’ve just checked in the Conference Agenda for this weekend… I can’t see anything there; maybe Robert Winnett could point it out to me?
Nope. This isn’t party policy. And I have quite a strong feeling that it isn’t ever going to be. The case Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson was making to Eric Pickles is something many liberals will agree with: the movement of powers away from Whitehall and towards town halls.
However, Clive Betts (MP for Sheffield South East) suggested an interesting amendment to the Local Government Finance Bill last year calling for students to be liable to council tax.
Cllr Vernon-Jackson has now contacted the NUS to confirm to them he is not in favour of students paying council tax.
First posted on the Libertine: here
