THE leader of Harlow Council has slammed the Labour opposition over their decision to accept an allowance increase.

Councillor Dan Swords made the comment in response to number of questions from local resident David Forman.

After the meeting, cllr Swords said:

“In September, Harlow Labour councillors voted against increasing councillor allowances to bring them in line with other councils.

In the meeting, they protested calling the increases “outrageously too high” and voted against the proposal. The day after the meeting a Harlow Labour press release stated that “All Labour Councillors voted against this obscene pay rise”.

However, in Thursday’s council meeting it came to light that each and every one of the Harlow Labour councillors has accepted the increase and taken their new allowance.

It was highlighted by a question from the public (see film) in which they asked why the Harlow Labour voted against “increasing participation from women and young people” as the Equality Impact Assessment on the new allowances stated.

In response to the question, the Leader of Harlow Council, Cllr Dan Swords said: “The hypocrisy from Harlow Labour is outrageous. They voted against the increase and lambasted such an increase. Yet each and every one of them has accepted their new allowance. Quite simply they lied and tried to pull the wool over resident’s eyes.”

Film is below.