Councillors on East Cambridgeshire District Council tonight voted themselves an immediate 25 per cent pay rise. The decision was in line with the recommendation of an independent panel report on the council’s allowances.

I proposed delaying the increase until the elections in May 2019.  At that point, there will be 28 councillors instead of 39, and an increase won’t cost the taxpayer any more money. Not a single other councillor was prepared to support my proposal, which therefore didn’t even make it to a vote.

The immediate increase in allowances will cost the council over £48,000 a year until the next elections. The former council leader (now the Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough) said last year that reducing the number of councillors was our contribution to saving money in difficult financial times.  Not if Conservative councillors vote for a 25 per cent pay rise it isn’t!