Cllr Cameron Rose, an opposition Conservative councillor on Edinburgh City Council, says those who can aford to should follow the example of his colleague and take a pay cut.
The Telegraph’s rollercoaster continues to drive the headlines and people might be forgiven for thinking that all politicians are sloppy or dishonest in their personal use of public money.
Last week the Edinburgh Evening News ran an article on Conservative Cllr Gordon Buchan and his approach to expenses.
In his campaign leaflets in advance of the 2007 local elections he committed to take only 90% of the £15,000 salary paid to Scottish councillors. But now he is elected he goes further. I have never seen him consume so much as a cup of coffee paid for at public expense. Monthly council meetings last between five and twelve hours with a lunch supplied in the middle. Gordon always ensures he brings
or buys in his own.
Of course he is making a point. It is a point that not everyone need feel is necessary to make. And some councillors need the money to survive (Gordon has a well paid other job to provide for his family).
But we are all different people in different circumstances and the point he has consistently made is a helpful counterweight to the current media narrative. And there will be people like him in constituencies and councils up and down the land.
The public purse needs to be treated with respect.
