Liverpool MPs hit out at the Government’s decision to increase the fees paid to commissioners at the City Council.
In a letter, seen by the ECHO, to Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the city’s five members of Parliament have criticised the decision to uplift fees for commissioners appointed to the council and other local authorities.
The Labour MPs call on the commissioners to reject the increase and openly oppose the decision.
Read more: Staggering amount government commissioners will earn in Liverpool
A team of Whitehall commissioners were installed at the council in June 2021 after an inspection report identified a number of failures and wasted money at the local authority.
The council's chief executive Tony Reeves recently said the council is “expected and required” to meet the new, higher rates for commissioner fees set by government.
The chief executive faced questions from members of the council’s Audit Committee on January 11 after news broke that commissioners overseeing the council would have their pay significantly increased.
The announcement, which was confirmed in a letter in December, means that the council will now pay lead commissioner Mike Cunningham £1,200 a day during his time in Liverpool, up from £800 a day previously.
In the letter from Paula Barker MP, Ian Byrne MP, Dan Carden MP, Maria Eagle MP and Kim Johnson MP, the move is described as a “perverse” decision taken without any consultation with the House of Commons “nor with any proper consideration for the impact the decision will have on the City Council’s budget.”
The letter said: “You are very aware Liverpool City Council’s Budget has been cut by £465m by successive Conservative Governments since 2010 and faces a further £34m of cuts to services next financial year.
“This decision could not have come at a worse time and it will be rightly seen by our constituents, in this context, as a perverse and unjustifiable decision.”
The MPs also rejected Mr Gove’s assertion - in correspondence with the local authority - that the pay for commissioners is comparable to that of a council chief executive.
Their letter said: “We would also ask for an example of any chief executive anywhere in the country who has received a 50 per cent pay increase since 2015, when for most of this period public sector pay restraint has been in place.”
Describing the rise as “eye watering,” the MPs said it would have a detrimental effect on the pay hike is likely to have on the morale of “hard-working Council staff, the vast majority of whom are low paid and have had to endure real terms pay cuts, year after year, over the past 12 years.”
In closing, the City representatives said the money made available to increase commissioners’ fees should be concentrated on improving outcomes for our constituents and our city,” and called on Mr Cunningham and his team to “do the right thing” and turn down a pay increase.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
Plans to close almost half of borough’s libraries move forward
Boris Johnson under pressure as 20 Tory MPs plot no confidence vote
