North Tyneside councillors vote through set of 'obscene' pay rises for themselves

Allowance increases equivalent to a £130,000 annual uplift across the Labour-run area’s 60 councillors were signed off on Thursday evening. The largest uplifts will see the additional special responsibility allowance given to deputy mayor Carl Johnson increase by more than £6,000 and for cabinet members by nearly £8,000, rises of 85% and 235% respectively.

A councillor’s basic allowance will increase from £10,829 to £11,176, while elected mayor Karen Clark’s salary will jump from £68,499 to £70,691, both up by around three per cent.

Alan Foster, chair of the independent remuneration panel which recommended the increases, told councillors that their allowances had effectively been frozen since 2022 and that failing to lift them might deter good candidates from stepping forward to represent their communities.

Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, which was brought forward an hour to avoid clashing with Newcastle’s Champions League tie with Barcelona, Conservative councillor David Lilly called the proposals “obscene”.

He added: “Residents will just see politicians with their noses further in the trough. At a time when everyone is having to tighten their belts, these increases are obscene and an affront to the residents of North Tyneside.”

Independent Judith Wallace, who voted against the motion alongside the Conservative group and Reform’s Brian Smith, said the uplifts were “unfair”. Ms Clark said that the independent panel had conducted a “very thorough” review of the allowances, while no other Labour councillor spoke before the ruling party voted in favour of the changes.

The increase in North Tyneside councillors’ allowances, which will apply from May 2026, include:

Basic allowance for councillor – £10,829 increasing to £11,176;

Elected mayor – £68,499 to £70,691;

Deputy mayor – £7,537 to £13,970;

Cabinet members – £3,332 to £11,176;

Chairs of health and wellbeing board, planning committee, standards committee, and overview and scrutiny – £3,332 to £5,558;

Chair of licensing committee – £2,330 to £5,558.

The allowance given to leaders of opposition party groups will be cut from £3,332 to £2,235, though a new £11,176 salary will be introduced for the leader of the borough’s largest opposition group. In total, the changes will cost the council an extra £130,000 per year.

Ahead of Thursday’s council meeting, the GMB Union criticised councillors for giving themselves a pay rise while accusing the authority of working up plans to force council staff to pay to park at council offices and leisure centres across the borough.

However, the council has denied that any such plan exists.

GMB organiser Stuart Gilhespy said it would be “wrongheaded and ill thought out” to impose parking charges on council workers and that upping councillors’ allowances was “completely grotesque and will make people wonder whose side the council is on”.