Residents refuse to pay council tax over ‘undemocratic’ cancellation of elections
Small but growing group of people say they will ‘withhold’ money until they can vote for their local leaders
As a great-grandfather in his eighties, David Elliott has yet to lose his nerve.
Just last year, the 84-year-old flew in a Harvard, an aircraft previously used by pilots training to fly Spitfires.
The grandfather of five, who previously enjoyed gardening before arthritis set in, has also made another decision that sets him apart from many in his age group.
He has cancelled the direct debit payments for his council tax bills.
Mr Elliott, from Watton, Norfolk, is protesting after his council became one of 30 local authorities across Britain to cancel elections scheduled to be held in May, depriving 4.5 million people of the chance to vote.
He is part of a small but growing group of people who consider this a democratic outrage, who believe there should be no taxation without the chance to elect representatives, and are planning to withhold payments as a result – despite the risk of legal action and even prison time.
“I object to the idea of an unelected group of people taking my hard-earned pension,” he told The Telegraph. “It is just totally undemocratic.”
This May will mark the second consecutive time Norfolk county council will not hold scheduled elections.
As was the case elsewhere across Britain, the elections were postponed after council leaders sought permission from the Government, claiming that holding them would be expensive, complicated and unnecessary given a looming reorganisation of local government.
Critics have argued that elections are only being cancelled to help councils avoid a wipe-out in May, when Labour in particular is expected to lose scores of seats to Reform.
The Telegraph has launched a Campaign for Democracy to prevent elections being cancelled in future without a full vote in the House of Commons.
Mr Elliott said: “I’ve voted Tory all my life, but I’ve become sadly disillusioned with the dysfunctional Tory party of the previous months and years, so really I’m a ‘floating voter’, I think you’d call me now.
“Although my inclination is strongly towards Reform UK, to be frank.”
He added: “When the elections were first cancelled last year, I initially thought, oh well fine, it’s clearly a restructuring situation and that’s ok, I will live with that, but now this is clearly an attempt to stop Reform.”
The pensioner, who previously worked in the electronics industry, has only recently cancelled his direct debit payments and is yet to receive any reminders from Norfolk county council.
When he does, he plans to explain, in an email to the council, that he intends to “withhold” his council tax “until such a time as [he] can pay an elected council”.
Mr Elliott stressed that he would word his letter to state he was “withholding” the money and not “refusing” to pay.
He plans to pay the money he would normally use on his council bills into a separate bank account so that he can deliver the full balance of missed payments when an election is eventually held.
“I’ve always felt strongly that we have a right to be able to vote and my policy has always been that I will vote, because it means you’ve got no right to criticise or comment on the current situation,” he said.
‘A complete affront to our democracy’
Colin Smith, 74, from Slaugham in West Sussex, has taken a similar stance.
He said he had already started “withholding” his council tax in protest at the cancellation of local elections.
“It takes a lot to get people angry in this country,” he told The Telegraph.
“What the Government is doing with the local elections being cancelled is a complete affront to our democracy.”
[…]
John O’Connell, the chief executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said that delaying elections while increasing bills “shatters the basic principle of no taxation without representation”.
The Telegraph: continue reading
Featured image: The Telegraph
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