Yahoo News Jonathan Gullis slams Stoke-on-Trent's £40 brown bin charge as 'garden tax' at PMQs
A Conservative MP has hit out at the Stoke-on-Trent's 'garden tax' in Parliament. Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis blasted the city council's Labour administration for introducing the £40 brown bin charge as part of budget cuts this month, during Prime Minister's Questions.
Mr Gullis asked Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden whether he agreed that it was time 'for Stoke-on-Trent Labour to axe the garden tax'. But Mr Gullis, whose constituency includes parts of Newcastle borough, failed to mention that a very similar brown bin charge had been introduced by the Conservative-run Newcastle Borough Council in 2019.
Mr Gullis, who was twice interrupted during his question by shouting from the Labour benches, said that since being elected in 2019 he had helped deliver schemes such as the reopening of Tunstall Town Hall, but that this progress was now being undermined.
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He said: "Sadly, Labour-led Stoke-on-Trent City Council seeks to undermine that progress by: introducing a brand new tax on residents to have their garden waste collected; refusing to take planning enforcement against rogue and absent landlords who plague Tunstall High Street; and increasing crime and antisocial behaviour by dumping undesirable people in the centre of Tunstall. This just goes to show the disdain that the Labour party has for Stoke-on-Trent."
A total of 505 people have signed Mr Gullis's petition calling on the city council to stop using the Sneyd Arms in Tunstall to house homeless people.
Mr Dowden said Mr Gullis was an 'excellent campaigner' for his constituents. He said: "He highlights the same problems with Labour councils across the country, raising taxes and letting services fall into disrepair. Of course he is totally right to be holding rogue landlords to account."
