Stockport council leader Elise Wilson has hinted Labour could support proposals for a ‘cost of living rebate’ at this week’s annual budget setting meeting.
Councillors will meet on Thursday night to approve the authority’s financial plan for the 2022/23 financial year - including an overall 4pc rise in council tax.
It has been drawn up by the Labour administration, who describe it as a ‘robust and resilient’ budget, which particularly protects services for the most vulnerable residents.
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But with energy bills, food prices and interest rates all rising, the Lib Dem opposition has put forward plans for a ‘cost of living’ rebate, for more than 100,000 homes
Funded from reserves it would hand £15 to all households in council tax bands A-D - broadly equivalent to the proposed increase in the ‘general’ element of council tax.
Despite being a Labour-run authority, the Lib Dems are the largest group and the two parties have clashed over big issues such as the ‘spatial framework’ development plan and the controversial library move over recent years.
But Coun Wilson has strongly hinted Labour could back the Lib Dems’ rebate scheme after Mr Hunter’s group trailed the amendment on Monday.
Responding to the proposals, she acknowledged that opposition parties could sometimes ‘have an idea that matches our ideals’.
“The Liberal Democrats proposal is one such idea,” she said.
“There is a coming cost of living crisis and we think, in consultation with officers, we might be able to make something work.”
“Of course, it would be easy to dismiss their idea. To throw numbers at it, talk about ‘the real world,’ and have a go at them. But that is the old politics.”
However, Coun Wilson was keen to stress that ‘every pound in every paragraph’ of Labour’s budget had ‘factored in the cost of living for the lowest paid and the most vulnerable’.
Referring to schemes totalling more than £1m in one-off monies, she continued: "It’s why there is a project for veterans, money to protect against future floods, and cash to reduce anti-social behaviour.
“This is what Labour does. We help everyone get on in life, we build fairer societies, and we think about the environment for our children and our grandchildren's sake.”
Coun Wilson said the approach signalled a ‘new era’ for Stockport.
“Our town is on the brink of a once in a generation change,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“With that must come a new politics. Listening to ideas to benefit all, particularly the most vulnerable. That is what your Labour-Led council will do.”
Stockport council's annual budget setting meeting takes place at the town hall on Thursday night (February 23).
