IN response to the Daily Echo article “Council tax hikes to hit pensioners and families hard”, (January 18) I would like to make the following comments.

The Labour council did vote to remove the ten per cent discount for pensioners, but it is important to remember that the most vulnerable of this age group will receive 100 per cent relief on their council tax payments.

When the Conservative council brought in the ten per cent relief for those pensioners not entitled to any council tax protection, it was the case that these pensioners were being affected by a reduction in their savings and pension income.

However, the Conservative Government in 2010 brought in the triple lock guarantee for pensions when it switched the uprating of pensions from RPI to CPI.

This guaranteed that the state pension would rise each year by the highest of average earnings, CPI or 2.5 per cent.

Therefore, pensioners do have a level of income protection that many other groups in society do not.

The Labour council also voted to accept the Government’s transition scheme for the reduction in Council Tax relief, which will mean that all those currently affected will only pay up to 8.5 per cent in the first year and not the 25 per cent as will be the case in subsequent years.

As a councillor, I would prefer that the vulnerable in our community were able to continue receiving the 100 per cent council tax relief.

The group that are most affected by the decisions of the Conservative Government is children; and this is a group whose voice can be lost in these debates.

EAMONN KEOGH, Southampton City Councillor (Labour) for Peartree.