§ Mr. Michael Jabez Foster (Hastings and Rye)(Lab)Following a 20 per cent. increase in this year's council tax bill, some 10,000 of my constituents in Hastings and Rye consider that enough is enough and have signed a petition, which I fully support, bringing attention to the need to restrict future such unaffordable rises.
§ The petition states:
§ The petition of Bob Harris and others
§ Declares that repeated inflationary rises in council tax in Hastings, a town considered one of the most deprived in the country, have caused a great deal of misery not only to pensioners but young marrieds too.
§ The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge Her Majesty's Government to take immediate steps to reduce increases in future years at least in line with inflation and incomes.
§ And the petitioners remain etc.
§ To lie upon the Table.