SNP - 'Gaming The System' Over Councillors Pay
I must update my 2022 posts from the blog archive on how the SNP has been 'gaming the system' over councillors pay.
Most councillors are currently part-time because their roles were assessed as being part-time back in 2006 and nothing has changed in recent years to suggest a backbench councillor is really a full-time job.
Senior councillors, ie those with additional council-wide responsibilities, have been paid decent full-time salaries since 2006 - yet both sets of councillors have been holding down second and third jobs for years!
Now Scottish ministers say that both backbench and senior councillors should be regarded as full-time which will cost the public purse another £8 million a year at a time when ministers say they have no money - that the cupboard is bare.
SNP - 'Gaming The System' Over Councillors Pay (August 10, 2022)
Here's a reminder from the blog archive that a third Glasgow MSP has been involved in 'gaming the system' over councillors' pay.
Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan and Scottish Government business minister, previously employed Cllr Allan Casey who was a senior councillor with Glasgow City Council and paid an enhanced, full-time salary in excess of £35,000 a year.
So we're now up to 3 Glasgow MSPs and 4 SNP ministers who have been abusing public trust and gaming the system in this way - Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister), Humza Yousaf (Health Minister), Ivan McKee (Business Minister) and Keith Brown (Justice Minister).
5) Cllr Allan Casey - see post below from the blog archive
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2425&name=Allan+Casey
Cllr Casey has no new entries on the register, but records two paid posts with SNP MP Anne McLaughlin (ended Dec 2020) and SNP MSP Ivan McKee (Scottish Minister).
No details are provided about of the time commitment or salaries involved in these posts.
Cllr Casey does not register his councillor salary which is in excess of £35,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
SNP Politicians - Gaming the System (April 28, 2022)
Here's an updated version of my post about 'Who's In Whose Pocket In Glasgow?'
I think it's fair to say that The City Council's 'Register of Interests' is far from being a model of transparency - for a start councillors are not required to register their council salaries, full or part-time.
Instead councillor salaries are shown as being paid, quarter by quarter, and the latest entries are for the 3rd quarter of 2021/22 - from which visitors to the GCC web site must extrapolate full annual amounts to gain a clear picture.
The position in Glasgow is that lots of councillors have 2nd and sometimes 3rd jobs - even those who have full-time senior roles in the council who are paid full-time council salaries, upwards of £27,000+ a year.
In effect this suggests the councillors involved enjoy earnings of over £40,000+ a year although it's difficult to be precise because there is generally no explanation of the salary or time commitment of their 2nd and 3rd jobs.
So as things stand the public is entitled to know what salary a councillor is paid from the public purse - but not what salary a councillor is paid from the public purse via an MSP (Scottish Minister) or an MP.
Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney say this is just fine and dandy - I say this is a scandal and that after 15 years in power the SNP can't tell right from wrong.
1) Cllr Alexander Belic
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2398&name=Alexander+Belic
Cllr Belic is still employed as a Caseworker by the SNP MP Alison Thewliss, but his entry on the Council's Register of Interests does not explain the time commitment or salary involved.
Cllr Belic's entry does not refer to his £18,604 councillor salary which is paid an hourly rate of around £15.00 an hour.
Backbench councillors across Scotland are paid a part-time salary of £18,604 which is set at two-thirds of full-time hours - a notional full-time salary of £28,000.
Alison Thewliss MP
2) Cllr Eva Bolander
Cllr Bolander registers two self-employed jobs and two previous paid roles with Carol Monaghan MP and Sandra White MSP - but there are no details of the time commitment or salary involved.
Cllr Bolander's entry does not refer to her £18,604 councillor salary which is paid an hourly rate of around £15.00 an hour.
Backbench councillors across Scotland are paid a part-time salary of £18,604 which is set at two-thirds of full-time hours - a notional full-time salary of £28,000.
Carol Monaghan MP
Sandra White MSP (now retired)
3) Cllr Graham Campbell
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2413&name=Graham+Campbell
Cllr Campbell has no new entries on the registers, but records his previous employment with Anne McLaughlin the SNP MP - no details are provided to explain the time commitment or salary involved.
Cllr Campbell's entry does not refer to his £18,604 councillor salary which is paid an hourly rate of around £15.00 an hour.
Backbench councillors across Scotland are paid a part-time salary of £18,604 which is set at two-thirds of full-time hours - a notional full-time salary of £28,000.
Anne McLaughlin MP
4) Cllr Christina Cannon
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2414&name=Christina+Cannon
Cllr Cannon has no new entries on the register, but records various posts with SNP MPs and MSPs Kirsten Oswald, Anne McLaughlin, Ivan McKee (Scottish Minister) and Humza Yousaf (Scottish Minister)
No details are provided about of the time commitment or salaries involved in these various posts.
Cllr Cannon does not register her councillor salary which is in excess of £27,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
Humza Yousaf MSP and Scottish Minister
Anne McLaughlin MP
Ivan McKee MSP and Scottish Minister
Kirsten Oswald MSP
5) Cllr Allan Casey
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2425&name=Allan+Casey
Cllr Casey has no new entries on the register, but records two paid posts with SNP MP Anne McLaughlin (ended Dec 2020) and SNP MSP Ivan McKee (Scottish Minister).
No details are provided about of the time commitment or salaries involved in these posts.
Cllr Casey does not register his councillor salary which is in excess of £35,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
Ivan McKee MSP and Scottish Minister
Anne McLaughlin MP
6) Cllr Annette Christie
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2416&name=Annette+Christie
Cllr Christie has no new entries on the register, but records two paid posts with SNP MP Anne McLaughlin (ended Sept 2017 and March 2020) and another with SNP MSP Ivan McKee (Scottish Minister).
No details are provided about of the time commitment or salaries involved in these posts.
Cllr Christie does not register her councillor salary which is in excess of £27,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
Anne McLaughlin MP
Ivan McKee MSP and Scottish Minister
7) Cllr Laura Doherty
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2417&name=Laura+Doherty
Cllr Doherty has no new entries on the register, but records her paid post with SNP MP Margaret Ferrier which commenced in January 2020.
No details are provided about of the time commitment or salary involved in any of these posts.
Cllr Doherty's entry does not refer to her £18,604 councillor salary which is paid an hourly rate of around £15.00 an hour.
Backbench councillors across Scotland are paid a part-time salary of £18,604 which is set at two-thirds of full-time hours - a notional full-time salary of £28,000.
Margaret Ferrier MP
8) Michelle Ferns (now ALBA)
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2418&name=Michelle+Ferns
Cllr Ferns has no new entries on the register, but records two paid posts with SNP MP Natalie McGarry which ended in 2017 and another with SNP David Linden for 16 hours a week which ended in February 2018.
No details are provided about the salaries for these posts or the time commitment involved in the McGarry post.
Cllr Ferns' entry does not refer to her £18,604 councillor salary which is paid an hourly rate of around £15.00 an hour.
Backbench councillors across Scotland are paid a part-time salary of £18,604 which is set at two-thirds of full-time hours - a notional full-time salary of £28,000.
Natalie McGarry MP
David Linden MP
9) Cllr Mhairi Hunter
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=1302&name=Mhairi+Hunter
Cllr Ferns has no new entries on the register, but records two additional paid jobs - one as a Board Member of Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS for which receives a salary of around £9,000 for a time commitment of 1 day per week.
The other paid job is as an Office Assistant for Nicola Sturgeon - no salary details are provided for this post nor is there any indication of the time commitment involved
Cllr Hunter does not register her councillor salary which is in excess of £27,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
10) Cllr Ruari Kelly
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2422&name=Ruairi+Kelly
Cllr Kelly has no new entries on the register, but records an additional paid job as the Communications Officer for Anne McLaughlin, the SNP MP.
No salary details are provided for the Communications Officer post nor is there any indication of the time commitment involved.
Cllr Kelly does not register her councillor salary which is in excess of £27,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
Anne McLaughlin MP
11) Cllr Jennifer Layden
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2400&name=Jennifer+Layden
Cllr Layden records two additional paid job on the register - one as a caseworker for Margaret Ferrier the SNP MP which ended in October 2020 and another as a Caseworker for Humza Yousaf MSP and Scottish Minister.
No salary details are provided for these posts nor is there any indication of the time commitment involved.
Cllr Layden's job with Humza Yousaf ceased in August 2021 after started writing about these issues on my blog in May 2021.
Cllr Layden does not register her councillor salary which is in excess of £35,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
Margaret Ferrier MP
Humza Yousaf MSP and Scottish Minister
12) Cllr David Turner
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/member.asp?id=30&t=Councillor+David+Turner
Cllr Turner has no new entries on the register, but records two additional paid jobs - one as a Support Officer for David Linden the SNP MP and another in the same role for Stewart McDonald the SNP MP
No salary details are provided for these two Support Officer role nor is there any indication of the time commitment involved.
Cllr Turner's entry does not refer to his £18,604 councillor salary which is paid an hourly rate of around £15.00 an hour.
Backbench councillors across Scotland are paid a part-time salary of £18,604 which is set at two-thirds of full-time hours - a notional full-time salary of £28,000.
David Linden MP
Stewart McDonald MP
13) Cllr Alex Wilson
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2118&name=Alex+Wilson
Cllr Wilson records two additional paid job on the register - one as an Appeals Officer for the Department for Work and Pensions and another for the South West Arts and Music Project.
No salary details are provided for these two jobs nor is there any indication of the time commitment involved.
Cllr Wilson does not register his councillor salary which is in excess of £27,000 a year, as a full-time senior councillor.
