At Wandsworth Council, Labour Councillors have just voted themselves large pay rises at your expense. Among a range of new and expanded ‘special’ allowances, the Labour chief whip will get a pay rise of 172%.
This breaks a long-standing freeze while ripping up precedent. Although HMRC guidance tells local authorities to avoid a majority of councillors getting extra pay, 33 of the 35 Wandsworth Labour councillors can now claim additional money.
Adding insult to injury, Labour backdated the changes to April — so their councillors will get bonus payouts.
Conservative Councillors o n Wandsworth Council voted against all of these proposals.
When proposing the original allowances for this year, Labour's Cabinet Member for Finance said any increases would be inappropriate "given the current financial climate and the cost-of-living crisis".
The council has also said it’s likely that it will need to use reserves to meet Labour’s departmental overspends and a new budget deficit.
But that didn’t stop Labour from voting to:
- Give ONE senior Labour Councillor a 172% pay rise. They will now receive over £40,000 a year, with a bonus lump sum of over £8,000 in back pay.
- Hand members of their group over £28,000 in back-pay bonuses.
- Create brand-new allowances for THREE individual Labour councillors.
- Increase the overall cash for the Labour group by 12%, well above inflation.
- Add over £120,000 to the council's annual pay bill since they won the election.
When challenged on his own £3,000 new allowance, this is how a local Tooting Labour Councillor responded...
Allowances in Wandsworth were previously frozen for 12 years, which had cross-party support. Labour made no mention of any plans to increase allowances in their manifesto.
The move follows £1 million spent on the expansion of the Labour Council Leader’s office.
Sadly, Wandsworth’s Labour Councillors are lining their pockets while hitting yours with higher taxes, charges and council rents.
