Council Chief Exec drops pay rise after sustained Lib Dem pressure

Under sustained pressure from the people of Wiltshire, Council Chief Executive Andrew Kerr has declined the pay rise offered to him by Wiltshire's Conservative Administration.

"I'm delighted Andrew's taken this sensible step of declining his pay rise." said Mark Packard, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Finance and Human Resources. "In these times of mass redundancies and cuts to frontline services, £189,000 would have been an obscene salary for anyone in the public sector. However, my real problem here is not with the Chief Executive. It's with the Administration that offered the pay rise."

Jon Hubbard, Lib Dem Council Group Leader, continued: "Questions have to be asked over why the Conservative Administration on Wiltshire Council think now is an appropriate time to be offering massive increases in pay to those already on bloated paypackets at the top of the organisation, whilst they cut Leisure Centre opening hours, stop free swimming for children and pensioners, close libraries, and wreak havoc across the frontline services people need."

"As we demonstrated in our Budget Amendments earlier this year, there's money to spare for key services, if Wiltshire's Tories would only cut waste and inefficiency within their Administration. Offering a pay rise to the Chief Exec just shows how the Tory's priorities are so very different to those of most people in Wiltshire."