Westminster Council votes down proposal to shrink council tax rise saying budget is ‘boldly ambitious’

Westminster Council has voted down a proposal to reduce the amount council tax will rise by, as it outlined how it intends to spend taxpayer cash over the next financial year.

Councillors voted along party lines to narrowly reject an opposition amendment to raise council tax by 3.99 percent, instead of 4.99 percent, during a budget meeting on Wednesday 5 March.

Instead the Labour administration laid out where the council’s budget will be spent, including more CCTV cameras, a new antisocial behaviour team and £1mn in cost of living support.

The opposition said the £710,000 loss in revenue, by limiting how much council tax would rise by, could be covered by reducing agency staff and “efficiencies” in other areas. But council leader Adam Hug accused the Conservatives of running out of ideas.

He said: “What we have here tonight was a real contrast, between a Labour administration clear on its purpose and ambitious but pragmatic in its approach and an increasingly extreme Conservative party with no new ideas of their own, propelled forward by a sense of entitlement to power and a desire simply to tear down what we are trying to build.”

Westminster City approved the 4.99 percent rise, which includes a two percent increase for adult social care. According to the local authority, council tax for a Band D property will rise by 48p per week, which it says is still one of the lowest rates in the country.

Opposition leader Paul Swaddle also proposed, as part of the rejected amendment, to increase spending for a legal fund to challenge Sadiq Khan’s pedestrianisation of Oxford Street and to launch a dockless bike enforcement team to tackle the scourge of poorly parked e-bikes.

He said: “Despite reassurances from the Labour-led council, dockless bikes continue to run riot and block streets and pavements across the city and while the council has announced new parking spaces for dockless bikes and e-scooters it is clear the present scheme is not working. It is time to punish companies who allow riders to irresponsibly park bikes and take enforcement action.”

But Cllr Max Sullivan, the cabinet member for streets, claims the proposal was a waste of taxpayers’ money. He said the council was already fining operators and had forced them to remove thousands of e-bikes in the last year. The meeting was also briefly interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters who were quickly escorted out of the chamber.

The 2025/26 budget includes:

• £140mn into buying and maintaining temporary accommodation properties;
• An extra £1.2mn to tackle rough sleeping;
• An additional £1mn on cost-of-living support;
• £2mn in funding to tackle antisocial behaviour (ASB) — including doubling the number of CCTV cameras to 200, creating a new team to combat ASB and recruiting extra officers to fight noise nuisance;
• An extra £2.6mn for adult social care, which will go towards a pay rise for care assistant and levelling up the threshold at which people start to pay for their social care costs.

Council leader Hug said: “Today, we set out a budget that is more than just numbers on a page — it is a blueprint for a Fairer Westminster — a budget that balances financial responsibility with bold ambition. A budget that ensures every resident, no matter their background or circumstance, has the opportunity to prosper here.”

Labour has been in control of the council since 2022 but has seen its majority fall from 31 to 29. Westminster Conservatives now have 25 councillors, up from 23. In September, the party lost a seat in the West End to the Tories and more recently lost the by-election in Vincent Square ward.

Westminster Council, meeting of full council, Wednesday 5 March 2025. Agenda and webcast.

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