Lib Dem councillor censured for revealing plans to increase council pay

Maurice Leeke, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Cambridgeshire County Council, has been found guilty of breaking the council’s rules after he issued a press release about plans to increase pay for senior council staff.

As the Cambridge News reports:

The complaint focused on a pay rise for top bosses which was proposed in September and was detailed in a confidential paper which went before the remuneration committee.

Prior to the meeting, the Liberal Democrats released a press statement stating a rise was proposed and quoting Cllr Leeke saying the plan would be “devastating for staff morale” at a time when an across-the-board pay cut was being debated.

Cllr Leeke denied releasing information from the paper or from a confidential meeting of group leaders, arguing the proposal could be inferred from the title ‘corporate leadership team pay review’, which was in the public domain.

But panel chairman Cllr Sebastian Kindersley said members believed Cllr Leeke had released information which he knew or should have known to be confidential.

From what I know about the case, I very much sympathise with Maurice Leeke. Some confidentiality over individual staff matters is not only fine but desirable, but that is very different from keeping secret the fact of pay increases being debated.

Maurice Leeke himself said after the ruling:

I’m very disappointed with the decision, which shows an authority that’s keen to hide behind secrecy for matters which are inconvenient.

It’s quite inexcusable to think any authority should increase the salary of any of its staff behind closed doors without the public being aware of what is being discussed, and all along my concern has been about what I considered to be an unjustifiable pay decrease which would have been devastating for staff morale.