Call for Highland councillors to give up free lunches and curb expenses in stormy chamber debate
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A call has gone out for Highland councillors to slash their expenses after embarrassing figures emerged this week which reveal few are putting their hands in their own pockets to pay for their canteen lunch when attending meetings in chamber - despite an earlier pledge to do so.
Whistleblowing Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Andrew Baxter is demanding a "full review" of all councillor expenses after he revealed that only 17 of his colleagues had acted on a pledge to voluntarily pay for a £4.70 canteen lunch when attending meetings at the local authority’s Inverness HQ.
However, the number needs to be treated with caution as some councillors do not take lunch in the canteen and take in a packed lunch - so it cannot be said that 63 councillors are eating at the expense of the tax payer.
At the Resources Committee in Inverness this week, Cllr Baxter said the agreement granting councillors the right to a free lunch should be abolished; mileage payments of 45p per mile should possibly be reduced by 5p per mile to save £19,000: increases to councillors’ basic allowances should be frozen for three years to save nearly £50,000; and councillors should publish their expenses every month instead of annually.
He also called on senior councillors to give up their right to special responsibility allowances in recognition of the extra duties that they carry out, to save thousands more pounds.
"I would hope the administration would accept my request for a full review of our remuneration and allowances and see what flexibility we do have to make alternative choices in other areas," he said.
Council leader Margaret Davidson agreed to the review but was not impressed about the way he had chosen to go about asking for it. She said she would have preferred if he had spoken with her directly rather than taking his gripe to the press.
"I think he’s got it off his chest," she told the committee.
"I would imagine he’s got his newspaper headlines too. Good for you Cllr Baxter."
Standing with her back to him, refusing to make eye contact, she went on: "Could I just say if you’ve got questions around the budget, if you’ve got suggestions, if you’ve done some research and asked officers direct questions which have given you information which means that we can look at some things which traditionally have never ever been looked at, please share them with me.
"It would actually be much better if you did it in an e-mail or a letter or even a conversation rather than the chamber."
She added: "We’ll make sure that we look at everything that you have raised here. Some of them were perfectly valid suggestions, others were just opportunistic statements."
But there was more criticism to come.
East Sutherland and Edderton ward Labour councillor Deirdre Mackay said councillors should bear in mind they were not highly paid for the hours and commitment they put in.
She stressed that the make-up of the 80 councillors serving Highland "still does not reflect the make-up of our communities".
She said the vast majority of those members who did not have a second job were retired. And it was important to remember that the expenses policy was put in place to allow younger people the chance to do the job without having to take on a second role to supplement their income.
"There are excellent people out there who would love to be councillors but they can’t afford to give up their jobs to work for £16,000 per year," she said. "Our average working week is more than 60 hours for £16,000. I would love to be paid the living wage for that."
She went on: "Cllr Baxter you are a part-time councillor, you fit in your council work around two other jobs. I think it’s unfortunate that in this day and age we still have councillors who are happy to return us to the days of the laird."
The phrase refers to the time when local government was dominated by wealthy landowners.
Cllr Baxter, who runs a post office, clearly resented the accusation and took particular umbrage with the allegation that he was "part-time."
"Try telling my daughter why I couldn’t play with her on Saturday because I was too busy doing council work," he said.
"Try telling my son why I won’t be reading him a bedtime story tonight.
"I’m just so angered about this. Two-thirds of my council salary goes towards paying staff in my post office. I think I spend as much time as most other councillors in this chamber despite – as you would put it – having two part-time jobs."
