You likely know that London City Council gave itself a hefty wage increase and it will go into effect just over a year from today. It was a close vote, 6 councillors voted against this move, 3 changing their vote to Nay during the final debate. As we head into an election, is this one of the first bona fide, city wide issues that will enter into the debates? The majority of sitting council members have already declared that they will be running to protect their seat. Where it gets interesting is incumbents largely run on their voting records for big issues, while challengers can both bring new ideas forward while at the same time be critical of decisions their opponent made during past terms of council. Will challengers latch on to issues like the record setting cumulative 26% tax increase this current council approved over the course of their 4 year multi year budget, while at the same time giving London City Council members a task force recommended 35 percent raise? These were both bold political moves, so possibly so. We’ll have to stay tuned, Today, we’re lucky to have the Chair of the Council Resourcing Review Task force to tell us about the process and the reasoning behind the task force recommended increases.
