Pay hike: Election could deliver cash boost

Scotland's 1,222 councillors appear set for a cash windfall when an independent inquiry calls for their salaries to be increased from £7,000 to £25,000 a year.

Labour peer Lord Sewell is set to recommend the pay increase following a year-long inquiry into councillors' remuneration.

If accepted the move could push the wage bill for Scottish councillors to £30 million a year.

The 250 per cent salary increase is likely to be resisted by Scots voters, who are already angered at average council tax rises of five per cent this year.

Sewell, who is a former Scotland Office minister, is set to recommend that all councillors receive a salary of between £20,000 and £25,000.

He believes the move is essential if the quality of local government representatives is to be increased and to stop councillors vying for posts which offer special responsibility allowances.

Whilst Labour sources back the shift, the flat-rate wage will be resisted by opposition parties within the Holyrood parliament.

Scottish Conservatives say any increase in the wage bill should be self-financing through a reduction in the overall number of councillors.

The party wants to see a reduction in the overall number of elected politicians north of the border.

Scotland currently has 72 MPs, 129 MSPs, over 1200 councillors and seven MEPs.

The Sewell inquiry also appears set to offer "golden goodbyes" of up to £30,000 to persuade long-standing councillors to stand aside in order to get new blood into Scottish local government.