Who would not vote to give themselves a pay rise?

The answer is members of the Conservative group on Maidstone Borough Council.

Members met last night to consider proposals from an Independent Remuneration Panel tasked with undertaking a four-yearly review of councillors' allowances.

The panel suggested there should be increases across the board, with members' basic allowances rising by £172 to £5,237, with the special responsibility allowances for the chairmen of the larger council committees rising by £157 to £8,000, and with the leader's allowance rising by £398 to £20,002.

In addition the review suggested the creation of a new payment to the deputy leader of the council, who is currently the Independent councillor Fay Gooch, who the panel suggested should be paid a new allowance of £4,000.

However, many members felt the council should not be spending more money on themselves in times of austerity.

Cllr Daniel Rose (Con) said: "I am 25. I got married last year. I took out a mortgage this year. I am probably in a more precarious financial position than most people in this chamber. This money would be useful. But I did not get involved in politics for financial reasons and I don't believe the taxpayers of Maidstone should be asked to fund this increase. I shall vote against."

Cllr John Perry (Con) said the proposals were "simply a way to trouser a little bit more money from our hard-pressed taxpayers. In the words of Margaret Thatcher - No No No!"

Cllr Eddie Powell (Independent Maidstone) said:"I don't want to be seen by our voters as KCC were seen when they voted themselves a 15% increase. That was obscene."

Cllr Bob Hinder (Con) said: "This is a bad idea. I can't support it."

But Cllr Dan Daly (Lib Dem) asked the council to consider what was the point of engaging an independent panel to assess allowances if they then didn't accept the recommendations.

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) argued in favour of the increases saying that it would enable the council to become more diverse, by helping those on lower incomes to participate. He said: "Logically, we could reduce allowances to zero, then we would have a chamber only made up of the wealthy and retired."

Cllr Gooch (Ind) said: "The level of our allowances would still be low compared with other councils, so I don't have a conscience about it.

"I work an awful lot of hours (for the council) and when I work it out my allowance equates to not even half, not even a quarter, of the national minimum wage."

Cllr Jonathan Purle (Con) asked for a named vote, so that: "The council taxpayers out there can see who it is amongst us who believes that this largesse should be charged to the taxpayers' chit."

In the subsequent vote, councillors voted by a majority of 24 to 20 to reject the proposals and to keep the allowances schedule unchanged.

Voting split largely on party lines, with all the Conservative members present voting against the increases - apart from Cllr Patrick Garten who abstained. They were supported by Independent Maidstone Councillor Eddie Powell.

All the Lib Dem, Labour and Independent councillors present voted in favour of the increase, with the exception of Cllrs Emily Fermor and Michelle Hastie (both Lib Dem) who voted against.

Ten of the borough's 55 councillors were not at the meeting and had sent their apologies.

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