Edinburgh councillors approved a pay rise for 21 elected members but they spent most of the time for the debate arguing about the history of how the council has been made up since 2022.
At Thursday’s full council meeting, councillors voted to increase the extra pay which most “senior councillors” receive. The term senior councillors includes party leaders and committee conveners and vice-conveners.
Despite the opportunity for debate on the issue, councillors instead spent the time disagreeing with each another about decisions made in the past.
By law, all councillors were granted a 3.3% base pay increase this year, but council officers recommended that the same increase be granted to the extra pay which senior councillors receive.
The Labour administration backed applying the increase, while the SNP group opposed it.
SNP group leader, Simita Kumar, said: “Councillors undertake a huge amount of work. I’m grateful that we’ve had better pay progress this term.
“However, we are requiring our staff and services to achieve savings. So how can we justify the increase?
“We have an administration that is made up of three parties who are trying to pull the wool over residents’ eyes.”
Edinburgh is governed by a minority Labour administration, which requires support from other political groups.
Liberal Democrat councillor Lewis Younie appeared to take issue with Cllr Kumar’s statement around his party being a part of the administration.
He said: “I think the SNP voted with the administration on the visitor levy. Does that make you part of the administration? No.
“Voting from opposition to have things amended in the budget is something that happens with every chamber where there is a minority administration.”
The debate then swung to which councillors are marked as senior councillors, and why.
Some in the chambers have been vocal in the past accusing Labour of granting convener and vice-convener roles on various committees to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups to prop up their administration.
Conservative councillor, Phil Doggart, said: “I think it’s quite important to realise that the SNP group on the last council were very happy to exclude the largest party on the council.”
Councillors continued to disagree about past decisions around why certain senior councillor roles exist, and whether the current arrangement in the council functioned as a coalition.
Almost entirely absent from the discourse was the question of whether the pay rise should be applied to the extra pay senior councillors get.
Im summing up the administration’s position, Finance Convener, Mandy Watt, noted that Edinburgh’s council tax increase was the lowest in Scotland.
She added that the increase in salaries will easily be met. All party groups, minus the SNP, voted for the pay increase to be applied for the extra pay senior councillors get.
Cllr Watt, as Finance Convener, will receive £54,407 per year after the approval of government recommended increases.
A group of 14 councillors, including the leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups, will receive pay rises of over £600 per year, which with the base pay increase put them on £46,138.
Depute council convener and Labour councillor, Lezley Marion Cameron, will receive an increase of just over £300 to the Senior Responsibility Allowance (SRA) bringing her salary up to £37,868.
Green group co-leaders, councillors Chas Booth and Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill, would each get an SRA increase of just over £300 as well, increasing their allowances to £36,488.
The two Green councillors make less than other parties’ group leaders as the Green group splits their leadership role between two councillors.
Vice-conveners will receive an uplift of just over £350 on their SRAs, which with the base pay increase would bring them to £37,868 per year.
Council leader, Jane Meagher, will earn £73,879 this year, and Lord Provost Robert Aldridge will receive £55,409.
However, their rates of compensation are set by statute, and therefore councillors have no power to amend them.
The party leaders who could get rises of over £1,400 between the base pay boost and SRA increase include Conservative councillor Iain Whyte, Liberal Democrat councillor Ed Thornley and SNP councillor Simita Kumar.
Meanwhile, Labour committee conveners and councillors Stephen Jenkinson, Margaret Graham, Conor Savage, Joan Griffiths, Tim Pogson and James Dalgleish could get the same increase.
About a third of the 63 councillors who sit on Edinburgh Council are senior councillors.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
