Lib Dems repeat call for council 'non-jobs' to be scrapped

Councillor Andy Kelly

Councillor Andy Kelly, Leader of Rochdale Liberal Democrats, will repeat his call for 'Assistant Cabinet Members' to scrapped at Wednesday night's council meeting.

He claims that the controversial report of the Independent Remuneration Panel back up his call. In the section of the report looking at 'Assistants to Cabinet Members' it states that they are not formal deputies for Portfolio Holders, they can't operate as formal substitutes, nor exercise any executive powers.

Councillor Kelly said: "I've said it before and I'll say it again, we need to scrap these unnecessary jobs that benefit our Borough not one iota. I was criticised for calling them 'jobs for the comrades' but that's exactly what they are. Our council is wasting £25,000 on them.

The report basically points out that these powers come with no decision making. If a Cabinet Member is absent from meetings these 'assistants' cannot substitute for them or make any decisions. It's farcical and these posts need to be scrapped."

The Lib Dem amendment, calling for the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel Report to be rejected, will be debated by the Council at the meeting.

In 2013, a similar panel recommended reducing councillors' allowances.

Councillor Kelly said: "There are two key differences between the reports of 2013 and 2016. The tough but fair former councillor Colin Lambert has been replaced by Richard Farnell and all the independent members have been replaced by new ones. I am not casting aspersions but how the two panels came to polar opposite views baffles me.

"The price of democracy has never been as high and I am not going to sit back and let fat cat councillors use hard hit council tax payers as cash cows."