Councillors in Newcastle have rejected the chance to give themselves a five per cent pay rise.
An independent panel had recommended that the city’s 78 elected representatives have their basic annual allowances upped from £9,200 to £9,660. But the move was unanimously rejected in the Newcastle City Council chamber on Wednesday night.
Labour council leader Nick Kemp said that councillors did not feel comfortable awarding themselves a pay rise at a time when residents are enduring a cost of living crisis and on a day when many workers were on strike over pay. Wednesday was described as the biggest strike day in a decade as 500,000 people, including teachers, walked out, with that night’s council salaries vote coming just hours after many politicians had been at a huge rally at Grey’s Monument.
