“I think that to give back what is basically less than a quid a week to people who probably don’t need it is an extremely regressive way of approaching the Council budget” 

 - Labour Councillor Steve Offord in the budget debate January 2010
 
Labour seem to believe that it is their right to take tax from the residents of this borough and any Conservative proposal to return money to the people of this borough is derided as a result. 
 
Conservatives will freeze or reduce local Council Tax for the first two years of our administration. In addition, if money can be found to be returned to voters, it will be returned in the form of a bond, as pioneered by Conservative Councils elsewhere in London, which returns a set amount to all Council taxpayers in the borough. For example, the alternative proposal put forward by Conservatives, which was derided by Cllr Offord in January, was to return £50 to all Council Tax payers in the borough, which is actually a very progressive proposal as residents in the poorest accommodation will receive proportionally more than those in the best, so Conservative proposals will benefit groups like pensioners and other reduced rate taxpayers the most.   
 
Conservatives believe that the Council should do less and do it better.