Brighton and Hove City Council’s Conservative Group have called on Chairs and Deputy Chairs of council committees to take a pay cut to project jobs.

Currently the three largest political groups on the council are entitled to support from a political assistant, a council officer dedicated to helping them in their role representing residents. Despite the name they are non-political, cannot campaign for political parties or stand for election. The only political aspect is that their day-to-day tasks come directly from councillors on their group. They particularly support new councillors, and help them find their feet in the role.

Labour’s budget proposal would remove these 3FTE roles, leaving councillors with little support and extra work for remaining staff in Democratic Services, whose focus is on council committees.

The Conservative Group recently defended the role of political assistants during a debate at full council, calling them vital for democracy.

Proposals put forward by the Conservative would see Chairs and Deputy Chairs of council committees give up £94,000 to help fund the plan, alongside £100,000 of unallocated extra resources.

Cllr Anne Meadows said “This is £94,000 extra into the pockets of Labour and Green councillors on top of their £13,000 each basic allowance. The Chairs and Deputy Chairs of committees have all the resources of the council behind them, writing their speeches, writing their communications, telling them how to chair the committee, so why do they need additional funding?

“Labour are planning to keep extra money for their councillors while cutting jobs for vital staff. These councillors are not worth this money and should ensure that staff are protected rather than boosting their own incomes at the taxpayers’ expense.”

Cllr Alistair McNair, Leader of the Conservative Group said “The budget papers state that these roles are business critical. Three of the four political assistants were hired during the council’s recruitment freeze, requiring senior officer approval. This alone should show how crucial they are to the council. It would have been easy to do away with the roles then, I wouldn’t have agreed with it, but it would have reduced the personal impact of hiring excellent people only to make them redundant months later.

“This is about democracy. Good governance requires good and effective opposition. Opposition groups don’t have the machinery of the Council behind us. But the Chairs and Deputy Chairs of committees do. Are the Chairs and Deputy Chairs, who may never sit in for the Chair, really worth £94,000 in total? We don’t think so, and propose saving 3FTE jobs, with money that would otherwise be spent on councillors.”