Be Careful What You Ask For…

Michelle Moseley, who is unable to work for health reasons, took the council to court after losing her full council tax benefit last April. Since then, she has been asked to pay around 20 per cent of the council tax bill. Ms Moseley said she was "relieved" to have won.

Well, it’s not like she gambled with her own money, now is it?

She, said: “Taking legal action was a last resort because the council just weren’t listening to us and so many people have struggled with their bills in the past year.

"Hopefully now they will reconsider their position and make changes to the way they use the council tax rebate system.”

What sort of ‘changes’, eh?

Haringey Council carried out its consultation in August 2012. It proposed that the government cuts could be met by cutting council tax benefit by 20 per cent to anyone who was not either a pensioner or disabled. The consultation did not offer any other ways to deal with the government cuts, such as raising council tax, cutting money to other council services, or using capital funds.

Ah. Right. Foolish of the council not to ask residents if they’d like to pay more money to help out the benefit classes, eh?

The Reverend Paul Nicolson, of campaign group Taxpayers Against Poverty, said the ruling was a "powerful win" for campaigners against the taxation of benefits.

He said: "The council is taxing the lowest benefits that are needed for food, domestic fuel and shelter.

The judgement leaves the council free to reconsult all us residents about whether council tax should be increased by an average of 86 pence a week to restore the 100 per cent council tax benefit for the poorest residents."

Hmmmm, really? But what if the council puts all this options to the vote and people overwhelmingly vote to cut benefits for the likes of Ms Moseley even further?

You’ll not be able to claim that people are behind you then, will you..?