7:10am Wednesday 18th November 2009
By Matt Smith
A ROW over Tory proposals to freeze councillor pay in Southampton is set to flare up at a council meeting today.
Opposition Labour councillors want allowances to continue going up in line with rises in the national minimum wage.
Labour leaders fear scraping the link – worth just a hundred pounds or so each year – will send out the message that the work and effort put in by councillors is “devalued”.
And they claim it will disproportionately put off the poorer residents from becoming councillors.
They will quiz Tory council leader Alec Samuels over the proposal at a full council meeting afternoon.
All city councillors can claim basic allowances of £11,159.20, based on working 37 hour weeks at the minimum wage.
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