LOCAL POLITICS…IT’S BECOME A FAMILY BUSINESS!

Four years on from Britain’s parliamentary expenses scandal it has now been revealed that a quarter of our ever so contrite Members of Parliament have been found employing members of their families on the public payroll, at a cost of £4 million-a-year to the taxpayer.

 

With that in mind, it’s would appear that quite a few of our own local Labour councillors are also keen to boost their family incomes by encouraging their brothers, spouses and partners to join them on the council benches too!

It might surprise you to learn just how much Tameside’s Married Councillors and Partners take home between them before tax.

Cllr K Quinn & Cllr S Quinn takes home £ 86,324.00.

Cllr A Holland & Cllr B Holland £ 39,984.00 plus £14,106.00 from other allowances.

Cllr M Smith & Cllr T Smith £ 47,031.00 pus £3951.00 from further allowances; and both in full time jobs!

Cllr D Lane & Cllr J Lane £ 41,336.00

Cllr D Ward & Cllr D McNally £ 40,411.00

Cllr J Fitzpatrick & Cllr J Jackson £ 47,098.00 plus Cllr J Jackson also works for MP Jonathan Reynolds.

Then we have Cllr Alison Gwynne and Cllr Claire Reynolds, who are married to respective local MP’s! 

Now, you might think there is nothing intrinsically wrong with family members and a few cronies crowding the council chamber, but when one analyses the situation, these civic double acts hardly engender feelings that represent total democracy as there will obviously be an appearance of unfairness with both spouses participating in council decisions.

For instance, during regular debates, unrelated individual councillors might form differing opinions and vote accordingly. With married couples, the tendency is to have two bodies speaking with one voice! So, instead of council direction being decided by a diverse group, in Tameside, this growing situation has put rather a lot of political power under the roofs of five or six households.