During yesterday’s Surrey County Council meeting, my Lib Dem colleagues and I voted against proposals put forward by the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) that recommended a £10,000 be paid to Deputy Cabinet Members, a set of roles only introduced by the Conservative Leader of the Council in May.

It is interesting to note that the IRP did not recommend these allowances in October last year, but have since changed their stance.  In the last Council term, which ended in early May 2017, 51 of the 60 Tory Councillors at County Hall were in receipt of one form of special allowance or another – on top of what they are paid as County Councillors.

These new allowances further boost the pockets of Conservative Councillors at a time when the same Councillors are proposing major cuts to essential services including bus travel, children’s centres, community recycling centres and libraries.  This is in our view totally unacceptable.