Council tax reform delay branded ‘political cowardice’

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Speaking in the Senedd debate, Labour’s Huw Thomas said: “The moral case for implementing council tax reform is overwhelming.

“Given the continued financial pressure facing households across the length and breadth of our nation, now is the time to strike while the iron’s hot. Not my words, minister, but the words of Plaid Cymru’s finance spokesperson in 2024.

“Working to make council tax fairer, knowing that the current system is long overdue for reform—again not my words, minister, but a promise in Plaid Cymru’s manifesto at May’s election.”

Mr Thomas added: “This retreat today isn’t just hypocritical, it shows political and moral cowardice.”

Welsh Labour said Plaid Cymru had collapsed the previous co-operation agreement citing the timeframe for council tax reform in 2028 not being soon enough.

Finance minister Elin Jones told the Senedd that the Welsh government will propose a later date for the planned council tax revaluation, by bringing forward legislation to defer the plans until the next Senedd term.

The minister said the decision follows detailed work to assess the costs of implementation, and the impact of updating council tax bands, which are still based on property values from 2003, saying some households could pay hundreds of pounds more, and government support for them could cost up to £80 million in the first year.

Ms Jones said: “That’s a serious amount of money at a genuinely difficult time for public finances, and [it] wouldn’t have been fair to press ahead with this without fully supporting households.”

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