Council tax protest pensioner awaits bailiffs

The Journal
Feb 14, 2007

A pensioner was yesterday ignoring the door to bailiffs after refusing to pay her council tax in protest against regional assemblies.
Widow Elisabeth Beckett, 82, claims the North-West Regional Assembly, which covers Cumbria, is part of an attempt to break up the country at the behest of the European Union.
Mrs Beckett owes Eden District Council more than £1,800 in unpaid tax since beginning the protest last year.
Her initial plan was to withhold the portion that would go to the assembly. But when the authority refused to specify that on her bill, the retired farmer began to boycott all payments.
After a court ordered her to pay the tax, she said she is now being pursued by bailiffs for the sum.

Mrs Beckett, of Front Street, Alston, claimed: "What the regional assembly is intended to do is take small bits of England, combine them with Brussels and have no English parliament. It's effectively treason.
"This has made me into a criminal. It is the sort of law that dictators make. I'm sitting here with my curtains and shutters drawn. It's a horrid experience. Why do the Government do this?"
Eden Council enforcement manager Spike Johnson said: "I cannot talk about individual cases.
"We would only employ bailiffs as a last resort. Eden District Council tries to work with individuals rather than taking the dogs out."