Letter: Shropshire Star (CEP Shropshire)

Parliament for English Neccessary

We are now in the council tax setting season and we will be lucky if the national average rise is about four per cent. This will mean the rise will be above inflation for the tenth successive year.

Since Tony Blair came to power in 1997 hills have gone up for English Band D properties by an average of 84 per cent whereas those in Scotland by a mere 40 per cent. This is one of Gordon Brown's stealth taxes. It is money taken from England and used to provide a massive subsidy to Scotland.

This tax hits those on fixed incomes hardest. It is true Gordon Brown gave pensioners an extra £200 last year to help with council tax - it was election year -but there is no commitment to pay it again.

England needs its own parliament to ensure taxes paid in England are used to fund services in England.

Edward Higginbottom
Co-ordinator for the Shropshire Branch of the Campaign for an English Parliament