In my council of Hammersmith and Fulham we have decided to freeze councillor allowances for the fourth year in a row.
Assuming that Kingston, Brent, Harrow and Merton do the same that will leave us with the fifth lowest allowances out of the 32 London boroughs. If some of those hike their allowances then we could end up in a lower slot.
We have decided to publish the league table of basic allowances so that there is proper transparency. How interesting that some of the poorest boroughs – Barking & Dagenham, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Lambeth, Southwark, Newham – are among those paying over £10,000 a year to their councillors. They are the ones whose councillors are most likely to give morally indignant speeches attacking the rich and denouncing spending cuts as inevitably being an attack on the vulnerable.
Kingston – £7,528
Brent – £7,974
Harrow – £8,160
Merton – £8,694
H&F – £8,940
Westminster – £9,000
Hounslow – £9,276
Richmond – £9,400
Bexley – £9,418
Camden – £9,654
Ealing – £9,612
Islington – £9,698
Lewisham – £9,812
Hackney – £9,943
Waltham Forest – £10,000
Barking & Dagenham – £10,006
Tower Hamlets – £10,065
Redbridge – £10,138
Sutton – £10,191
Havering – £10,208
Greenwich – £10,210
Hillingdon – £10,481
Haringey – £10,500
Enfield – £10,570
Barnet – £10,597
K&C – £10,597
Lambeth – £10,597
Southwark – £10,599
Newham – £10,734
Bromley – £10,872
Wandsworth – £10,957
Croydon – £11,239