Opposition groups on Hounslow Council join together to oppose Labour’s increase in councillors’ allowances

Hounslow House

Conservatives, Reform UK, Greens, Liberal Democrat and Independent unite in attempt to overthrow Labour’s wafer thin majority

All the opposition parties on Hounslow Council voted together last night in a bid to stop Labour increasing councillors’ allowances.

Conservatives, Reform UK, Greens, the one Liberal Democrat and the one Independent on the Council tried to throw out the new members’ allowance scheme which will increase the basic allowance for all councillors from £13,500 to £15,000, increase the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for the Leader, Cabinet Members and for some other roles, and decrease it for others.

Reform UK councillor Adam Perkins speaking at the meeting

“It simply won’t do, to raise our pay during a cost of living crisis”

The basic allowance recompenses councillors for the one day a week they are expected to spend on council duties. SRA for Cabinet Members covers the two additional days they are expected to spend on their Cabinet portfolio, as it has an impact on how much paid work they can do elsewhere.

READ ALSO: Hounslow councillors get a pay rise 

Reform UK councillor Adam Perkins said: “It simply won’t do, to raise our pay during a cost of living crisis”.

Reform put forward their own alternative plan which they said would save the Council £300,000, which was rejected.

Leader of the Reform UK group, Cllr Tony Brown, told the Borough Council Meeting:

‘We think your restructuring is right…But we think at a time when the borough is extremely hard pressed, when there has been no growth in the economy since 2008, when public sector deficit is growing massively…we shouldn’t ask the voters and tax payers of Hounslow to pay extra for their councillors’.

“You’re far braver than the main opposition”, Labour Leader Cllr Shantanu Rajawat responded. “They couldn’t even be bothered to think about this more deeply’.

Conservative Cllr Joanna Biddolph

Money spent on increase in councillors’ pay ‘could pay to fill 1,812 potholes’

The Conservatives did not put forward a plan of their own, contenting themselves with criticising Labour’s.

Cllr Joanna Biddolph (Conservative, Chiswick Gunnersbury) calculated 1,812 potholes could be filled with the amount of money the administration was planning to spend on paying councillors more.

She claimed 80% councillors would be eligible for Special Responsibility Allowance, saying that was far too many. There were 13 “non-jobs” which the Conservatives thought did not require any extra payment over and above councillors’ basic allowance: six Cabinet assistants and seven Vice-chairs of Area Forums.

Leader of the Greens, Cllr Guy Lambert agreed with Cllr Biddolph some of the posts needed to be reviewed and said his three members would not be claiming their Special Responsibility Allowance, or if they did, they would give it to charity.

Councillor Ron Mushiso (Conservative, Chiswick Gunnersbury) described this kind of reasoning from the Greens as: “student politics”.

Council Leader Cllr Shantanu Rajawat

“You could always give the money back”, taunts Labour Leader, “but none of you ever do!”

The Council Leader responded to the Tories’ criticisms, saying they were always critical, and if they really felt that strongly about it, they could give the money back, “but none of you ever do”, he taunted.

The point of raising councillors’ pay was to make local government more accessible, he said.

The membership of the Council was more diverse today because they had increased allowances in the past, Labour members argued.

“We believe people should be able to serve without having to worry about still being able to provide for their families,” said Shantanu.

“No one here wants to be seen to vote to raise their own allowance”, said Cllr Dan Bowring, but most people could not afford to take on the role of a local councillor unless they were fairly recompensed for their time.

On why someone would not become a councillor, Bowring said:

“The most common reason why that I hear is that I just can’t afford it”.

Labour Cllr Salman Shaheen

“Politics cannot be the preserve of the rich and the retired”

Cllr Salman Shaheen commented that the job involved long hours, and antisocial hours.

“We all do it out of civic pride and civic duty … but politics cannot be the preserve of the rich and the retired”, he said.

Labour won the motion by three votes (31 to 28).

This was the first meeting of the full Borough Council with the new senior leadership team in place, introducing their agenda for the next four years.

After the meeting Shantanu Rajawat told The Chiswick Calendar:

“What we heard on Tuesday was four and a half hours of the opposition having their cake and eating it. Every year they give us the same ‘hair-shirt’ routine of mock indignation, and then go on to claim their full allowance.

“They knew the motion would pass, but still wanted the luxury of voting against it.

“Opposition parties will agree in private and then posture in public. It’s not a pretty spectacle, and it confirms to me that councillor pay should not be decided by councillors but by an independent body”.

In Scotland and Wales, councillor pay is set by an independent body. In London, the London Councils group make recommendations but individual boroughs set their own rates of pay.

London Councils Remuneration Panel