At the Council meeting on 22nd March 2006 the Leader of the Conservative administration is proposing HUGE pay increases for lead Conservative councillors as follows

• Leader of the Council 56%
• Deputy Leader 71%
• Chief Whip 67%
• Cabinet Member 79%
• Chairman of Scrutiny & Overview Committee 64%
• In addition they are increasing basic allowances by 5.9%

This will cost Hillingdon tax payers an additional £300k, £1.2m extra over a 4 year term.

Cllr Mike Cox Leader of Hillingdon Liberal Democrat group said

"Good Councillors give up a lot of time and put in a lot of effort because they want to put something back into society. They don't do it to get paid. The Conservative administration has officially declared that "Public Service in Hillingdon is dead".

It is quite shocking that the Tories talk of being open and transparent in relation to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children yet only days before they hid £400k in the budget for "Cabinet discretion items". 75% of this "discretion" they are now spending on themselves not those most in need.

As an employer I don't begrudge paying being well for a good job. However to award themselves 80% pay increases while Hillingdon sits in the bottom quartile of performing boroughs surely smacks of an administration looking after No 1 first.

The 6% awarded to backbenchers is too much when other Council workers are being given 2% increases and massive cuts in services are taking place. An 80% increase for the cabinet is not just obscene, it is criminal."