Labour councillors want to cut allowances (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Labour councillors want to cut allowances
4:10pm Wednesday 29th April 2009 in News
LABOUR councillors are expected to vote to cut councillors’ allowances to save council services tomorrow.
A motion put forward by Labour councillors will call for councillors’ allowances to remain at their current level so the money saved can be ploughed into saving the town’s libraries, which are currently at risk of closing.
Councillor Ray Ballman, who will propose the motion at the full council meeting, said: “The whole point of the council is to deliver services to the people of Swindon and that is what this motion is about. The resources of the council should be directed at services that our people use. The Conservative administration keep telling us how challenging the budget is for them, well here is another way of saving some money and supporting services.
“The Tories have already rejected Labour’s alternative budget, which would have saved these libraries, this is another way of generating the saving needed.
“People across our town are feeling the pinch at the moment due to the economic downturn, there is no reason that councillors should be different.”
The motion proposes to rescind the decision to increase councillors’ allowances in line with the local government pay settlement and reduce individual member allowances, creating a saving of £29,500.
The motion also proposes to use that money to support the branch library services.
Comments(5)
Rusty23
says...
9:33pm Wed 29 Apr 09
It smells of a desperate Labour party who will do any old trick to get a few votes.
When will they realise that they are a redundant rump who every right thinking people can't wait to get rid.
Big Mac
says...
8:02am Thu 30 Apr 09
They know full well that, thanks to the good sense of most people in Swindon, there aren't enough of them to win a vote on *anything*, therefore they can present this oh-so-humble looking allowance cut proposal very safe in the knowledge that it won't be passed an they won't have their own allowances cut.
Of course, if they really want to demonstrate their committment to their beliefs, when they do lose the vote, they can always simply ask to be paid less on an individual basis if they're that concerned about it...
The Librarian says Oook
says...
9:23am Thu 30 Apr 09
Big Mac wrote:Exactly.
This is a just one big PR exercise and political charade by our Labour councillors. They know full well that, thanks to the good sense of most people in Swindon, there aren't enough of them to win a vote on *anything*, therefore they can present this oh-so-humble looking allowance cut proposal very safe in the knowledge that it won't be passed an they won't have their own allowances cut. Of course, if they really want to demonstrate their committment to their beliefs, when they do lose the vote, they can always simply ask to be paid less on an individual basis if they're that concerned about it...
The luxury of opposition is being able to posture and sound noble.
They will lose this vote and they will continue to claim their full allowances, even at the newer rate.
Humbugs and hypocrites the lot of 'em.
Bobfm
says...
10:07am Thu 30 Apr 09
All those who believe it is morally wrong to take theses allowances, it's in your own hands, don't claim them.
Kineasy says...
8:37pm Wed 29 Apr 09
Still no news of how much the free weekend is costing us all, latest estimate is £950 Thousand pounds.Greed is unattractive at any time, in current situation of unemployment and hardship across the Boro Greed is downwright disgusting.