Plaid Candidates Pledge to Refuse Pay Rise if Elected as Wrexham Councillors

Any Plaid Cymru councillors elected to Wrexham Council in the upcoming elections will refuse to take a pay rise.

With just over 16 weeks until the local government elections on May 4, Plaid Cymru’s candidates have agreed not to take any pay rise during their term in office.

The pledge was made at a meeting of the party’s local candidates – who also announced last month that they would not accept council iPads at a cost of £583 apiece if elected.

In a statement, Queensway candidate Carrie Harper said: “We constantly hear how Wrexham Council is having to make difficult decisions due to a lack of money. If Plaid Cymru candidates are elected we’ve agreed not to take any pay rises so that more money can be spent on frontline services that this borough needs.

“Since 2012, there has been an extra £100,000 a year spent on paying councillors in Wrexham with the bulk of that going to pay the executive board members and committee chairs.

“As we see the council close day care centres to save £47,000 and cut funding for children’s services, we’re trying to show how we’d do things differently if we were in power. £100,000 a year can go a long way to maintaining key services.”

The Party of Wales say they are also committed to capping highly paid executive pay.

Ms Harper added: “We want to close the gap between the highest paid and lowest paid within the council. As the council is closing down services, making staff redundant and reducing as a body, it seems right that we look closely at the amount we pay top executives. If there are cuts to have to be made, let’s cut from the top down instead of constantly cutting frontline services.

“People are sick and tired of hearing how money is tight and cuts are inevitable, yet the people making those decisions never seem to suffer themselves. We want to lead by example and make sure we have a council everyone can be proud of again.”

In November 2016 members of the Democratic Services Committee said they wanted to reject proposals to increase the basic salary of councillors elected in this year’s elections. In a report presented before members it was proposed by the Independent Renumeration Panel that the basic salary for councillors was increased by £100 (0.75%) to £13,400.

A final decision on the proposals from the Independent Renumeration Panel will be made at the last Full Council of the current administration in March 2017.