Councillors should resign over low wage economy

Councillor Mohammed Sharif

Leader of Labour on Rochdale Borough Council, Councillor Colin Lambert has called for the resignation of the Cabinet Member for Regeneration on Rochdale Council Councillor Sharif and the resignation of the council leader Councillor Alan Taylor who have both been in charge and supervising the policy which has "encouraged the negotiations that have led to employers being encouraged to offer lower wages to families in the borough".

Councillor Lambert met with the Rochdale Borough Council Chief Executive Roger Ellis and demanded an enquiry which will cover who knew what and when they knew it.

He said: "The attempts to put all the blame on a low paid officer does not stand the test, and I suspect this was a policy designed to meet targets and tick boxes rather than actually follow the so called attempts to raise employment standards and income standards across the borough.

"I call for the resignation of the Cabinet Member for Regeneration on Rochdale Council Councillor Sharif and the resignation of the council leader Councillor Alan Taylor,

"I asked Councillor Sharif if he knew about these negotiations and he said yes, he knows everything that officers do in his portfolio and that they do nothing without his permission. It therefore appears that both he and his leader, Councillor Taylor, not only knew that this policy was being implemented by officers but that they led on this policy.

"We have locally one of the highest poverty rates in England and so long as this is the thinking and policy of this council, low wages, poverty and low aspirations will remain.

"This total betrayal of hard working families and young people across the borough is a resign-able offence and they should go."

Councillors Sharif and Taylor were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.