After hours of debate, the proposal from the Labour/Green coalition on MCC to raise council tax by 5.95 per cent, double the rate of inflation, ended in a dramatic 22–22 tie, pushed through only by the Labour chair’s casting vote. Had the budget fallen, cross-party councillors would have had to negotiate important concessions for residents. Instead, by the narrowest possible margin, the average band D council tax will shoot up to almost £2,500.

Monmouthshire continues to receive the lowest level of per head funding of any local authority in the country because the Welsh Government sees Monmouthshire as an affluent area. But hidden behind the statistics are people in expensive homes but often don’t have an income to match – asset rich but cash poor. Monmouthshire receives £1,525 per person from the Welsh Government, yet some neighbouring councils receive as much as £2,439 per person. If Monmouthshire was funded just to the Welsh average, which is £2,057, the local authority would have an additional £50.5million every year to invest in education, social care as well as infrastructure work like repairing bridges and fixing our roads.

The council has wasted a lot of taxpayers’ money in the last few years, including by increasing the salaries of the eight highest paid officers, whose combined salaries now total £850,000 a year. Last year alone, a car parking review costing £28,000 was binned because it made the obvious recommendation that each of our towns are different and require bespoke parking arrangements. The cabinet also wasted over £60,000 on a hideous fence near Gilwern in the Brecon Beacons National Park. This money should’ve been invested in frontline services.

The Labour/Green coalition has raided the council’s reserves and reduced them from £33.6 million in 2022 to around £19 million today — Monmouthshire is now one of the least resilient councils in Wales – just one economic shock or natural disaster away from financial difficulty.

Now, unfortunately it’s residents who will pay the price, shouldering the burden of higher council tax. This 5.95 per cent rise follows two consecutive rises of 7.8 per cent last year and the year before. In total, council tax has risen by over 30 per cent in just four years. This is not sustainable. I’m proud that our Conservative team voted against these council tax rises. When we ran the council, we always kept council tax as low as possible. In our last year in office, the rise was just 2.95 per cent. We will continue to stand up for residents.