Council quizzed on mayor's 600% allowance increase

Mayor Thomas Murray will receive a £3,500 allowance to carry out his duties

Scarborough Town Council has been asked to justify its decision to increase the town mayor's allowance by 600%, despite committing to cautious spending.

Mayor Thomas Murray, of Reform UK, will be given a £3,500 allowance, after the authority's annual budget was approved last week.

At a full meeting of the Reform-run council, Independent opposition councillor Rich Maw expressed "serious concerns" over the increase.

But members of the council defended the hike, saying the mayor "should not be left out of pocket" for the unpaid role.

They added there had been an increase in mayoral duties and savings had already been made in other areas.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a group of charter trustees - councillors who represented the town's unparished areas on North Yorkshire Council - were previously responsible for maintaining civic traditions.

Maw said: "Under the former charter trustees, the mayor received £500 and the deputy mayor £100, which was considered sufficient for both their civic duties.

"I just respectfully ask the following: What is the justification for increasing the allowance to £3,500, please?"

Nigel Farage was quizzed about Scarborough Town Council's spending

Murray said the figure was based on how many engagements he might attend in a given year and how much each event had cost him.

He added: "The allowance is set at £3,500 because I'm aware that this is public money.

"However, the estimate that I came up with is a lot more than that.

"So, it would cost me to be the mayor, and as this is an unpaid role, this money is solely for me to exercise my duties efficiently."

Murray previously told the LDRS the council would be cautious about how it spent money, making sure it was used "meaningfully and not wasted".

According to fellow Reform councillor Stuart Murray, the authority had already saved £5,000 in money that was allocated in relation to the mayor's chains and civic regalia.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was challenged over the spending decisions in Scarborough on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, and said he had "no idea" about the situation.

He said: "Is he doing it or she doing it as a full-time job? I've no idea."

"What we could do is just get multi-millionaires to stand as candidates everywhere and indeed our Doge team are doing the work unpaid," he said.

"If people have got resources and they do it for free, that's great. I don't know the Scarborough Council situation."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.