Agenda item

8.1

It was moved by Councillor Olivia Blake, and seconded by Councillor Abtisam Mohamed, that this Council:-

(a)      believes that this year’s Budget was further evidence that we have an out-of-touch Government with no idea of the reality of people’s lives and no plan to improve them;

(b)      notes that real wages are lower than they were in 2010 and the Budget confirmed a further hit to living standards with disposable income set to fall in 2017, but despite these dire predictions, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made no mention of Local Government funding;

(c)       further notes that national economic growth is the lowest it has been since the Conservatives came to office and the recent Budget confirms that failure, with growth revised down in every year of the forecast, and the National Living Wage revised down to £8.56 per hour;

(d)      further notes that productivity has been revised down every year, while business investment has been revised down next year and each following year, and that rather than pause the rollout of Universal Credit, the Chancellor offered help which is only a fraction of the £3 billion a year cuts made to the scheme;

(e)      supports the Labour Party’s alternative budget which would scrap the public sector pay cap, pause and fix the Universal Credit roll-out, and introduce a real living wage of at least £10 an hour by 2020; Labour would bring forward investment in infrastructure across every region and nation to create high-wage, high-productivity jobs, and start a large-scale housebuilding programme, backed up with controls on rents;

(f)       believes that the small-scale tinkering with councils’ borrowing for housing falls far short of what is needed – as recent changes will provide only an average of £293m a year over three years; further believes this national picture is not good enough and notes that in Sheffield we are ready to build more homes for the city, if only the Government would lift the borrowing cap;

(g)      believes that all Government ministers since 2010 should be ashamed by the number of people homeless or sleeping rough in this country, with the number of people sleeping on UK streets having more than doubled since 2010, a remarkable failing of recent Governments given that, under Labour, rough sleeping fell by three-quarters;

(h)      notes that the budget also did nothing for the country’s 4.5 million private renting households; whereas a Labour Government would control rents, make three-year tenancies the new norm, and introduce new minimum standards;

(i)        believes that the Chancellor has not done nearly enough to end the current misery caused by the rollout of Universal Credit as the Government are still offering a desperate choice to those moving on to Universal Credit - wait 5 weeks to receive support or take a Government loan, going further into debt to make ends meet;

(j)        believes that the social security system should seek to prevent people from getting into debt, not encourage it, and support is given to the Labour Party’s calls for the Chancellor to ensure that two week payments are rolled out across the country;

(k)       further contends that the budget did very little for self-employed people, second earners, lone parents or disabled people, all of whom have seen their living standards suffer particularly acutely under Universal Credit, and that the Chancellor failed to mitigate the £3 billion a year cuts slashed from the programme by his predecessor, and he also failed to address the impact of the social security freeze in Universal Credit, due to push millions into poverty;

(l)        reaffirms previous calls on the Government to pause and fix Universal Credit, with support given to the Labour Party’s calls to:-

(i)           reduce the six-week wait for payment, so that it lines up with the way people are paid, with all applicants to receive fortnightly payments if they so choose;

(ii)          ensure everyone has the opportunity to have their rent paid directly to the landlord, to stop the spate of pre-emptive eviction notices that we are now seeing from private landlords;

(iii)         allow households to have split payments instead of just one going predominantly to the male, so setting back women’s financial autonomy;

(iv)         change the monthly assessment for self-employed workers to a yearly one, to account for volatile working patterns; and

(v)          restore the work allowances slashed from Universal Credit in 2015; and that the Chancellor should also end the freeze in social security payments, and ensure all children are supported through Universal Credit, not just the first two;

(m)     reaffirms the commitment by this Administration that no tenant of Sheffield City Council will be evicted solely as a result of delayed payments from Universal Credit;

(n)      notes that the Budget provides almost nothing extra for schools, moreover, we have already seen the steepest cuts to school funding in a generation (£2.7 billion since 2015 according to the National Audit Office) and a cap on public sector pay that has seen the average teacher lose £5000 since 2010, leading to teachers leaving the classroom in record numbers – with nearly 1-in-4 who joined since 2011 having left;

(o)      believes that the Government has completely mishandled business rates and that, although the shift from Retail Price Index (RPI) to Consumer Price Index (CPI) is to be welcomed, consideration should have been given to exempt new investment in plant and machinery from valuations, give business access to a proper appeals process and introduce statutory annual revaluations; and

(p)      believes that whilst the change in business rates will provide a much needed lift to our small businesses, it is feared that once again it will be local authorities who will have to bear the brunt of the costs for this; noting that, in Sheffield, the earlier changes to the Business Rates multiplier will lower Sheffield City Council’s income by approximately £1.5m – and although the Government have hinted that councils will be compensated for the changes, there is currently no guarantee of this, and further notes that this Administration is committed to ensuring that as much pressure as possible is put on the Government to ensure that any loses are fully mitigated.

8.1.1

(NOTE: With the agreement of the Council and at the request of the mover of the Motion (Councillor Olivia Blake), paragraph (m) of the Motion as published on the agenda was altered by (a) the substitution of the words “the commitment by this Administration” for the words “the decision by this Administration’s Cabinet” and (b) the insertion of the word “solely” between the words “evicted” and “as”.)

8.2

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Douglas Johnson, and seconded by Councillor Magid Magid, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of a new paragraph (n) as follows, and the re-lettering of original paragraphs (n) to (p) as new paragraphs (o) to (q):-

(n)      notes that, in Sheffield, only Council tenants can be evicted from their homes if they cannot pay water bills on time and therefore calls on the Administration to end this practice by accounting for water bills separately from rent accounts and ceasing to pursue eviction in the courts because of water rates;

8.3

It was then formally moved by Councillor Adam Hanrahan, and formally seconded by Councillor Ian Auckland, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)         notes that the national Budget was an opportunity to address a number of significant issues facing our country, many of which have local government repercussions and which local government can play a part in the solution;

(b)         believes that this Budget woefully falls short of addressing these issues;

(c)         notes that the Budget failed to fundamentally get to grips with the housing crisis in the UK, which has real impacts here in Sheffield, despite its billing as ‘the housing budget’;

(d)         notes that the Chancellor of the Exchequer put more money aside for Brexit contingencies than for schools, the NHS or the police;

(e)         regrets the continuation of the public sector pay cap;

(f)          believes that, by putting a penny on the pound in income tax, an additional 6 billion pounds of funding can be secured each year to fund our NHS and social care system;

(g)         regrets that Sheffield will lag further behind the devolved areas after further transport funding was announced for devolved areas; and

(h)        directs that a copy of this motion be sent to the Chancellor.

8.4

It was then formally moved by Councillor Cate McDonald, and formally seconded by Councillor Steve Wilson, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of new paragraphs (q) to (s) as follows:-

(q)         believes that the budget was also notable for the absence of any meaningful funding for local government and our schools and did nothing to address the crisis in social care;

(r)          notes that, on becoming Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Theresa May MP promised an inclusive government that would deal with the concerns and issues of the many who have been left behind by the government and we are, therefore, disappointed but not surprised to hear of the complete resignation of the Social Mobility Commission board, led by the former Labour and Conservative Cabinet Ministers, Alan Milburn and Gillian Shephard, saying they could not continue because they had 'little hope' Theresa May and her government could deliver the changes necessary to bring about greater social mobility in the UK; and

(s)         notes that the Local Government Association (LGA) assessed the state of local authority funding for adult social care in the wake of the budget and stated that local government as a whole faces a funding gap of £5.8 billion by 2020, with Councils urgently requiring an additional £1 billion to cover unavoidable costs (such as demography, inflation and the National Living Wage) as well as a minimum of £1.3 billion to stabilise the adult social care provider market.

8.5

The amendment moved by Councillor Douglas Johnson was put to the vote and negatived.

8.6

The amendment moved by Councillor Adam Hanrahan was then put to the vote and was also negatived.

8.7

The amendment moved by Councillor Cate McDonald was then put to the vote and was carried.

8.8

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

8.8.1

(NOTE: 1. Councillors Andy Nash, Bob Pullin, Richard Shaw, Adam Hanrahan, Joe Otten, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Roger Davison, Shaffaq Mohammed, Paul Scriven, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Ian Auckland, Sue Auckland, Steve Ayris, David Baker, Penny Baker and Vickie Priestley voted for paragraphs (a) to (d), (f), (i) and (k) to (s) of the Substantive Motion and voted against paragraphs (e), (g), (h) and (j) of the Motion, and asked for this to be recorded; and

2. The Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Magid Magid) and Councillors Douglas Johnson, Robert Murphy and Alison Teal voted for paragraphs (m) and (p) of the Substantive Motion and abstained from voting on paragraphs (a) to (l), (n), (o) and (q) to (s) of the Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.)