Labour’s 2026 Council Tax Freeze Branded a ‘Gimmick’ as Reform Threatens Another By-Election Upset in Hartlepool..
- teessidetoday
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
Its been branded as the last ditch effort from a failing political party, after efforts to stem the flow of support from Labour to Reform gets ever more desperate.....
3rd June 2025
Labour’s sudden promise to freeze Council Tax for Hartlepool Residents in 2026 has been slammed as nothing more than a “political gimmick,” with insiders claiming the move is a desperate bid to stop Reform UK from snatching yet another seat in an imminent Hartlepool by-election.
The announcement—made on social media by Labour MP Jonathan Brash and Council Leader Brenda Harrison—calls on council officers to begin preparing budget proposals for a Council Tax freeze next year. But it comes just months after Labour, who took control of Hartlepool Borough Council in May 2024, pushed through a near-5% Council Tax hike for the current year.
Many are said to be seeing the timing of the proposals as suspect, where sources claim panic has now set in at Labour HQ, following Reform UK’s shock win in the last Hartlepool by-election held in May, where candidate Amanda Napper secured the party’s first council seat with almost double the votes of her Labour opponent. The party has also seen rapid growth in neighbouring County Durham, where Reform took control of Durham County Council, a council that had stood under Labour Control for over 100 years, further rattling Labour’s already shaky coalition in Hartlepool.
Local observers say another Reform win in Hartlepool could blow apart Labour’s fragile alliance, where its claimed infighting between the far-left factions and its more centrist councillors has already left its leader Brenda Harrison struggling to keep order, where its claimed talk of a leadership challenge is 'in the air' & critics accusing Harrison of losing control of the group entirely.
Labour’s Council Tax freeze proposal for 2026 didn’t go down well online either. Residents were quick to point out that Hartlepool Borough Council received nearly £10 million in extra government grant money just weeks before they approved the 2025 tax hike—raising questions about where that money actually went.
The backlash was swift. One Labour insider told Durham & Teesside Today yesterday that the move by Brash and Harrison reeks of desperation, calling it “the last gasp of a dying political party” that knows its days in charge of HBC are numbered.
With Reform UK gaining momentum and another by-election looming, Labour’s grip on Hartlepool seems to be looking more fragile than ever as its majority at Hartlepool Borough Council grows ever narrower & the plans by Labour to keep voters from voting Reform get ever more wilder.
