Cambridgeshire Conservatives have voted through their budget for the County Council, with a council tax rise of 2.99 per cent.

Despite Conservative claims that their budget is ‘aimed at keeping the council tax burden as low as possible for local residents’, this 2.99 per cent consists of a 1.99 per cent increase for general services (the biggest rise permitted by law without a referendum) plus a 1 per cent rise for adult social care.

Councils are allowed to increase council tax by 3 per cent for adult social care over the coming two years, meaning that if re-elected in May the Conservatives will be able to double the adult social care tax rise next year.

The Conservative budget amendment concentrates totally on a £30M package of spending on highways, with no extra funding for helping communities cope with the effects of the pandemic, or reducing the council’s carbon footprint, both of which featured in the Liberal Democrat budget amendment.

What would the Liberal Democrats have done differently? I wrote about that earlier, at https://lornadupre.mycouncillor.org.uk/2021/02/09/cambridgeshire-county-council-budget/

My speech in the County Council budget debate is on YouTube and begins at https://youtu.be/W1cWwHra2vA?t=11096