29 August 2011
St Helens councillors must follow the example set by their Liverpool counterparts and stop riding the Merseytravel gravy train.
That’s the message from St Helens Green Party after Merseytravel’s Liverpool delegates announced that they were opting out of a discredited allowances system.
Merseytravel, the authority which co-ordinates public transport across Merseyside, is the only authority of its kind in the country where councillors – including two from St Helens – get to set their own allowances. 31 paid posts at Merseytravel are shared among just 13 Labour councillors at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £250,000.
Green Party spokesperson Francis Williams says:
“It seems Merseytravel members have been claiming multiple allowances to the tune of more than a quarter of a million pounds a year – before expenses!
“Obviously we want greener politics, but we want cleaner politics too that people can people can trust. That means the Merseytravel gravy train has to stop.
“Liverpool councillors, albeit reluctantly, have finally seen the error of their ways. Now it is up to St Helens’ Labour councillors to follow suit and claim just one allowance, set by an independent panel.”
In a separate development, Merseytravel chairman and Sefton Labour councillor Mark Dowd has attracted widespread criticism for claiming £47,665 in allowances during 2010/11.
Merseytravel has now agreed to allow an independent committee to set allowances, but has not yet established the panel.
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