North of England drives Fair Tax Councils numbers to record high

The number of Fair Tax Councils continues to grow at a wonderful pace – with 46 municipalities backing fair tax practices across the UK, an increase of 170% since the beginning of 2022.
There are now Fair Tax Councils in every nation and region across the UK.

City of Doncaster are the 46th Fair Tax Council
Growing support in the North
The latest to sign up to the Councils for Fair Tax Declaration is the City of Doncaster. They are the second Fair Tax Council in South Yorkshire, following Rotherham who passed the motion in November 2022.
Greater London leads the way with eight Fair Tax Councils, but regions in the North of England are immediately after. The North East has seven supporter councils and the North West has six.
City-region champions are also starting to emerge. Support in Greater London rocketed last year, going from two to eight councils in the space of just six months. Brent is the latest Greater London council to vote in support of fair tax practices in December.
In Greater Manchester, Bury Council became the 45th council to pass the declaration earlier this year, making it the third borough in the region to sign up after Oldham and Trafford. Greater Manchester also holds significance as the first combined authority to encourage businesses in the area to pay a fair share of tax as part of their Social Value Framework.

Brent Council celebrate becoming a Fair Tax Council
Cross-party support
The wave of support from councils has received backing from across the political spectrum, with Labour, Liberal Democrat, Conservative, Co-operative, Green and SNP councillors all saying ‘yes’ to fair tax.
Supporting responsible tax conduct and transparent businesses is clear common ground, and rightly so. Councillors at Cheshire East also voted unanimously in January this year, displaying consensus in an often divisive political landscape.
Public demand
Individuals want to see councils back ethical procurement and reward businesses paying their fair share of tax.
Last year, IBE data saw ‘corporate tax avoidance’ topping the UK public’s list of concerns for a tenth consecutive year. The Fair Tax Foundation’s most recent UK public polling finds that voters from across the political spectrum believe that local councils should consider a company’s ethics and how they pay their tax, as well as value for money and quality of service provided, when awarding contracts to companies. Which is why we’ve been calling for reform of the UK’s procurement rules.
It is heartening to see so much support for responsible tax conduct in towns and cities across the UK. Visit our Councils for Fair Tax page to find out how to support fair tax in your local area.