Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.44.1
Object Name
rosette
Title
'Councillor Helen Crossfield'
Place
Lambeth, London
People
Councillor Helen Crossfield, Labour Party, Lambeth Borough Council
Events
1985 Rate-Capping Rebellion
Description
A red rosette with a white square sticker in the centre with a handwritten label saying 'Councillor Helen Crossfield'. The reverse has 'March 7th 1985' written on it in marker pen.
Helen Crossfield was a Labour Party councillor in Lambeth Borough Council who participated in the 1985 rate-capping rebellion under which the council refused to set a budget in an attempt to force the Conservative government to abandon their policy of restricting the spending of local councils by capping the rates councils could charge households. The Rates Bill, enacted by the Conservatives in 1984, was an attempt to curb the spending of mostly Labour run local authorities. Councillor Crossfield recalls, "When council budgets were being cut by the Thatcher government, they were one element of what was seen at the time as a wider attack on the working class - privatisation of services, de-industrialisation, the demonisation of the public sector, and of course the minersâ strike."
Refusing to set a rate and produce a budget was illegal, and of the 15 councils which began the protest, only Lambeth and Liverpool held out. The protest was not supported by the Labour Party leadership, who feared it would bring Labour councils into disrepute and risk Labour being ousted from power in those areas. Both Lambeth and Liverpool councillors (31 in Lambeth and 42 in Liverpool) who participated in the rebellion were eventually found guilty of willful misconduct and individually issued with £2000 fines, equivalent to the amount of interest on tax payments their respective councils had lost, and were banned from holding office for 5 years. Public donations were raised to prevent any councillor having to personally pay their fine.
Multimedia
