Slashing councillors’ allowances was the proud election campaign promise of Islington’s Labour Party, but it hasn’t taken long for them to backslide on this. Just weeks after declaring that they would slash their salaries by 16 per cent, Catherine West, leader of Islington Council since May, has cautiously announced that her own salary is being cut by just £1,000 to £41,500 this year. That’s a ‘slash’ of 2.4 per cent.
Overall, the total amount of taxpayers’ money spent on all council allowances in Islington is going down by £13,122 to £784,504, a cut of just 1.6 per cent. Come on Catherine, that’s not exactly the big dramatic gesture we were expecting from you! Congratulations in going in the right direction, but the Cabinet have cut their wages by 5 per cent, so press on.
Mind you, any money they do save on councillors’ allowances is going into free school meals for every primary school child, so there’s no saving there at all…
Tim Newark, Islington TPA