Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Good thinking - pay for a report, then ignore it.
A report, by an independent panel of experts, into the level of allowances for Wiltshire councillors was ignored at the Wiltshire Council meeting on Tuesday.

Instead, council leader Jane Scott produced a scheme which was then voted through by whipping-in the Conservative majority.

The result of the vote is that payment to most back-bench councillors will be frozen whilst payments to post-holders within the council - mostly Conservatives - are either introduced or increased.

Independent and Lib Dem councillors opposed the scheme but, despite some abstentions on the Conservative side, the plans got the go ahead.