When did our cabinet member for Resident Services stop being a resident? (Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats)

Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats <info@hflibdems.org.uk>

When did our cabinet member for Resident Services stop being a resident?

April 22, 2010 11:13 PM

Local Liberal Democrat candidates in the Hammersmith and Fulham council elections have welcomed the fact that Tory Councillor Paul Bristow has finally formally given up his position as a member of the Tory administration in Hammersmith and Fulham Council, after officially moving to the north of England.

Mr Bristow wants to be an MP in Middlesborough, and has been campaigning hard there for the last year, since being selected as the Conservative candidate in 2008. He assured Middlesborough residents that he lived in his prospective constituency.

Meanwhile Hammersmith Council's Tory administration continued to pay him a salary of over £30,000 a year as a member of their Cabinet.

Liberal Democrats council candidates in the Borough welcomed the news that Paul Bristow would not stand again in Fulham Reach. "Our councillors should live near the people they represent. All our candidates are local, and we meet and talk to residents all the time" said Askew Ward candidate Henrietta Bewley. "We don't think you can represent people if you live 300 miles away"

" It's worrying that our Tory controlled council pays its Cabinet nearly half a million pounds a year and gave its senior officers pay rises of over 10% last year, while cutting services and staff. But it is even more worrying that someone who lives 300 miles away is being paid that much for being in charge of essential services in our Borough.

"No wonder David Cameron assures us that there is lots of scope for reducing waste in government spending"