Don't Talk to Me About Rates

In the midst of an era defining battle between local and central government, the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire comes to the defence of local services against Tory attack.

It’s 1983, the Thatcher government is cutting large chunks of money to local authorities, and the People’s Republic of Sheffield, under the leadership of David Blunkett and Councillor Bill Michie, are holding the fort for vital council services. With local unemployment rocketing, Sheffield City Council, in this somewhat apolitical film, set out to convince an archetypal-bar bore the value of these local services in the face of rising council rates.

This film was presumably made prior to the General Election of 9th June 1983 when Bill Michie became a Labour MP, followed by David Blunkett in 1987. In 1980 the Thatcher government introduced a new block grant with penalties on councils which exceeded expenditure targets, to coincide with large cuts in funding from central government. At the time Sheffield council had a no-redundancy policy and was committed to maintaining low bus fares (Heseltine cut its transport grant by 30%). Yet although dubbed the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, the City Council eventually caved in 1985, when, with other councils, they refused to set a budget in protest at the 1984 Rate Act which introduced rate capping.