Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.44.3
Object Name
certificate
Title
'Certificate of Honour. This certificate is issued in recognition of the fact that Helen Crossfield was one of the 31 Lambeth Labour Councillors who, on 2nd April 1986 were disqualified from office and surcharged £105,000 for their strategy in defence of local services, jobs and Democracy.'
Place
Lambeth, London
People
Councillor Helen Crossfield, Lambeth Borough Council, Labour Party
Events
1985 Rate-Capping Rebellion
Description
A yellow certificate with black text. It begins 'Certificate of Honour. This certificate is issued in recognition of the fact that Helen Crossfield was one of the 31 Lambeth Labour Councillors who, on 2nd April 1986 were disqualified from office and surcharged £105,000 for their strategy in defence of local services, jobs and Democracy.'
The certificate, created by a local group 'Lambeth Services Well Worth Defending', acknowledges the consequences for the councillors that participated in the rate capping rebellion in 1985, including a ban on standing for office, a fine which amounted to £2000 per person, and collective legal costs of £120,000 from trying to contest their convictions for willful misconduct. "These Councillors deferred setting the rate for Lambeth for four months. Thus their only crime was to put their duty to the electorate above the dictat of central Government. Their commitment and their sacrifice is an example to all who work for local Democracy." The certificate demonstrates local positive feeling towards the Councillors who participated, in contrast to the feeling of the Labour Party leadership which disavowed the protest.
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
