A Bury MP has refused to say when he will stand down as a councillor after he was questioned about his taxpayer-funded income of more than £90,000.
Conservative councillor James Daly, who was elected as the MP for Bury North in December, is still entitled to an annual basic allowance from Bury Council of £8,708, in addition to his parliamentary salary of £81,932.
He was expected to step down from his role as councillor at the local elections in May – but the vote was postponed by a year due to coronavirus crisis.
When asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service when he plans to quit as a councillor for North Manor ward now that elections have been delayed, he said: “No comment.”
This comes after it was revealed that Bury South MP Christian Wakeford is still a Pendle Hill councillor at Lancashire County Council, despite telling his colleagues that he would be “hanging up his coat” at a meeting in February.
Mr Wakeford’s office said the change of plan was in response to the cancellation of all local elections – including by-elections – until 2021.
Bury Council’s deputy leader, Cllr Tamoor Tariq, questioned whether the local authority should look at “duplicate” payments from the taxpayer back in May.
His comments at the annual council meeting came as the ruling Labour group appointed seven more councillors to paid roles worth up to around £11,000.
He said: “I was wondering, given that one elected member, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bury North, is currently on a salary of £90,302, taking into consideration the basic allowance from the council, whether the leader agrees with me that perhaps this is an ideal opportunity to review whether that allowance can be put into our community fund, given that there are duplicate roles there and there’s two pots of salary taken from the taxpayer.”
Cllr Daly, who stepped down as the leader of the Conservative group at Bury Council after he was elected to parliament, responded at the meeting in May.
He said: “I find it a strange comment to bring into a meeting such as this – about my personal circumstances – when we’re discussing the most fundamental things that matter to people in our borough.
“It’s lovely to hear the cheap political points being made but it’s important that we all work together.
“If Cllr Tariq feels the need to single me out in that way, then so be it, but when there’s an offer on the table to work for the greater good for everyone in our borough, I find his comments slightly surprising.”
Former Bury North MP James Frith was also a Labour councillor for Elton ward before he was elected to parliament. He stood down in May 2015 when he first ran as the Labour candidate for the constituency but was unsuccessful.
