LABOUR RETREAT AFTER FAILED COUNCILLOR ALLOWANCES GRAB 

Ruling Labour councillors on Cambridge City Council have aborted an attempt to serve themselves with ‘an extra helping’ of councillors’ allowances, following challenge from Opposition Liberal Democrats.

Labour city councillors tabled proposals at the council’s Civic Affairs Committee on Monday to override recommendations from the council’s Independent Remuneration Panel giving their leaders even more allowances and even higher ones. These were to be funded partly by reducing or completely eliminating allowances for non-Labour councillors, and partly by breaking the council’s budget by using up £30,000 more public money, despite just having presided over controversial cuts in staff and services to the public.

The Independent Review Panel, which weighs evidence impartially, including from city councillors themselves, as well as from elsewhere, was already proposing significant increases in allowances from 2025-26 onwards, in total costing the council some 10% more at £632,000.
 

Leader of Liberal Democrat councillors, Cllr Tim Bick appealed to Labour members to stop trying to take more, drop their own ‘tone deaf’ proposals now, rather than result in their own – and the whole council’s - public embarrassment at the council meeting on May 22nd. 
 
Amid scenes of confusion and a hasty adjournment, Labour failed to refute criticism of their plan and ultimately agreed to support the Independent Panel’s recommendations.  

After the meeting Cllr Bick said:

“We want to see fairness for councillors, reflecting the often considerable work put in. But we have an Independent Panel specifically to ensure that changes are based on evidence and don’t result in majority councillors just helping themselves. This involves trusting and following the independent recommendations.

“But Labour were proposing that every single allowance should be other than recommended by the independent panel. It was a wholesale re-working of the entire scheme of allowances.

“Out of the 12 allowances Labour planned to increase even further, 10 are only eligible to Labour councillors and many of the rises were substantial. All of the allowances that are exclusively eligible to Opposition councillors were to be reduced or completely eliminated. Extra public money was to be raided for the rest.

"Among the changes would have been a 40+% pay rise for the council leader, 30% more than the Independent Panel proposed. And Labour wanted big new allowances - not even proposed by the Independent Panel - for up to 4 “Cabinet Assistants” whose job is just to help other Labour councillors, already themselves getting big increases to do their own job. This really underlines how this was just about getting as many Labour people on the payroll as possible and laying hands on more funds to pay for it.

“What Labour was doing here was utterly tone-deaf and wrong. With the government cutting benefits for the poorest in our society, Labour councillors really were just helping themselves here. And this despite earlier this year cutting council staff who clean the streets and maintain open spaces and go after littering and fly-tipping - and closing public toilets. Just 10 days ago they lost two city council seats in by-elections to the Lib Dems suggesting the skids are under them next time we have full elections. Hardly the right conditions to award yourselves a discretionary pay increase! It feels like they were trying to cash in while they could.

“I am pleased we caught Labour out this time. But it was clear they haven’t given up and plan to try again, so we will continue to challenge such self-serving behaviour.”