It began with a bold claim: “Wandsworth Labour has frozen your council tax.”
The message was everywhere — printed in official-looking leaflets dropped through letterboxes, plastered across social media, and echoed by local Labour councillors in post after post. It was meant to reassure residents that, even amid rising costs, their local authority was holding the line.
There was just one problem: it wasn’t true.
A promise that didn’t add up
Wandsworth Council’s Labour administration had, in fact, raised council tax by 2% in 2025. The increase is clearly stated in the council’s budget papers and reflected in bills landing on doormats across the borough.
Yet even as residents saw their charges rise, the council kept insisting it had imposed a “council tax freeze.” Social media posts like this one from March 2025 claimed:
“Labour have frozen Council Tax again in Wandsworth,” it reads. And the same message was repeated and amplified over and over again. On the Labour Party’s social media accounts, on the Council’s social media accounts, in videos and short clips, and printed leaflets. There’s even a specific webpage for the claim.
The backlash builds
Residents were confused. Opposition councillors were incredulous. And soon, the pressure began to mount.
At a full council meeting on 10 March, Independent Councillor Malcolm Grimston took direct aim at the claim.
“It’s ridiculous,” he told the chamber. “People are not stupid. If the bill is going up, it’s not frozen.”
Then, on 9 April, the BBC turned the spotlight on the council. In a sharp segment, reporters exposed the contradiction between Labour’s messaging about a council tax freeze and the real numbers on residents’ tax bills. Wandsworth residents interviewed in the piece described feeling “misled.”
A political leaflet war
Seizing the moment, Wandsworth Conservatives went on the offensive. A newly circulated leaflet — styled in the bright colours and bold layout of official council communications — declared:
“Council spending is out of control.”
The leaflet, shown above, mocked the “freeze” claim and highlighted Labour’s rising debt and borrowing plans, including a £1.9 billion borrowing figure and a so-called £12,800 “debt cost per household.”
It’s a leaflet clearly designed to sting — and to look like it could have come from the council itself.
Why it matters in Wandsworth
This may seem like a row over semantics, but in Wandsworth, council tax has long been a political touchstone. For decades under Conservative control, Wandsworth boasted the lowest council tax in the country — a core part of its identity.
Labour, which took control of the council in 2022 for the first time in 44 years, promised not to change that. The political consensus is clear: if Labour is to hold power in this historically Tory borough, it must convince voters that council tax will stay low.
That may explain why the council clung so tightly to the “freeze” narrative — even after the facts told a different story.
A quiet retreat
Under mounting scrutiny, Labour has now dropped the language of a council tax freeze from its website and social media posts. But so far, there has been no official clarification or apology to residents who received the misleading messaging.
And while the 2% rise is modest in the scheme of things, the episode has sparked broader concerns about transparency and political messaging in local government.
As the next local elections edge closer, the issue may be less about the size of the increase — and more about whether residents trust what they’re being told.
