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The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) justified the 24 per cent rise by arguing that councillors have taken on more duties over the last five years and must look after larger wards. guess handbags

Increases in councillors’ salaries have lagged behind those in the rest of the public sector, the report found, and they have been forced to accept a pay freeze this year and next.

However, the report was highly critical of Glasgow City Council’s practice of paying councillors extra money to sit on ‘arms-length’ companies running council services.

It found that more than £260,000 had been paid to more than 40 councillors for sitting on firms that “deliver broadly the same service as previously carried out by the council.”

Scottish ministers said they would “consider carefully” the recommendations but warned that public spending is facing severe cuts. Opposition parties argued that councillor pay should not be increased.

Derek Brownlee, Scottish Tory finance spokesman, said: “As the public sector across Scotland deals with the consequences of Labour wrecking the public finances and a pay freeze in place to protect jobs, now is the wrong time to increase the cost of politics.”

If the changes were implemented, a ‘backbench’ councillor would see their annual salaries increase 16.5 per cent to £18,916. This equates to three-quarters of the median Scottish salary but does not require a full-time commitment.

Council leaders would be paid between £44,000 and £63,000 per year, depending on the size of their local authority, with Glasgow and Edinburgh getting the maximum amount. summer fashion trends

The total pay bill would increase from about £22.8 million to £28.3 million per year. The report admitted this is a “substantial sum” in the current financial climate but argued it must be seen in the context of councils’ £10.9 billion revenue budget.

It argued that councillors have seen “significant changes” in their workload since the introduction of larger, multi-member wards in 2007, while leaders now have more say in formulating national government policy.

The report admitted its recommendations were “challenging and even potentially unaffordable” but argued that Scottish ministers of issuing mixed messages by insisting pay levels must not prevent Scots becoming a councillor.

Iain Livingston, the body’s chairman, suggested the increase in pay could be funded by reducing the number of councillors.

Under its previous leader, Steven Purcell, Labour-run Glasgow City Council set up a series of Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOs) to provide local services, such as managing its property portfolio. gucci handbags 2011

The report found this practice has led to most Glasgow councillors being paid extra to sit on one of these companies to the extent the wage budget for senior members had been exceeded by 41 per cent.

The committee found “no justifiable reason” for these “untenable” payments and argued they should be discontinued.

James Dornan, leader of the council’s SNP group, said: “We feared, and consider we have shown to be correct, that this system would be used to pay off supporters and keep other councillors under control for internal party discipline purposes.”