Labour efforts to overturn reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme remain ‘unfunded’, according to a Hammersmith and Fulham councillor.
Changes introduced by the Government at the beginning of this month have meant elected officials can no longer qualify for LGPS access. However, an early day motion tabled by Labour leader Ed Miliband and signed 34 supporters including shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn recently attempted to overturn this decision.
Hammersmith and Fulham councillor Harry Phibbs said the motion has exposed Labour’s intention to reintroduce ‘gold plated’ pensions for town hall staff.
Phibbs said such a move would cost taxpayers £7m a year and was ‘another unfunded Labour spending pledge’.
Writing on Conservative Home, Phibbs said: ‘Far more serious is the mentality giving councillors these pensions encourages.
‘Are councillors fundamentally council staff there to defend the interest of the bureaucracy into which they allow themselves to be comfortably absorbed? Or are they guardians of the residents they represent?
‘So it is not just a matter of £7m. It is about having councillors with the right motives and a principled belief in achieving value for money.’
Hilary Benn has long defended Labour’s stance on local government pensions, arguing it is ‘hypocritical for ministers who are themselves saving for a ministerial pension to deny the same chance to councillors. It's one rule for them and another for everyone else’.
‘When ministers talk down and diminish the role of councillor all they do is damage the cause of localism and undermine the vitally important work that councillors of all political parties do for their communities.’
