The decision on Tuesday by the ruling Conservative administration on Wiltshire Council to vote through huge pay increases in the region of 22-37 per cent for senior councillors (most of whom are Conservatives) at a time of economic hardship is an insult to the people of Wiltshire.
In recent months hard-working council staff have been made redundant, public sector workers have had their pay cut in real terms and many families are struggling to heat their homes. Yet the Conservatives think it is right that they take more taxpayers’ money.
I, along with all my Liberal Democrat colleagues, voted against these obscene pay rises.
I am opposed to any increase in councillors’ pay for the duration of this council. Therefore the one per cent increase I am now due to receive, as part of the remuneration package pushed through by the Conservatives, I will give away to Prospect Hospice.
Coun Chris Hurst, Royal Wootton Bassett South.
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