Let Tories examine spending

Referring to the article in the Shropshire Star on Wednesday, February 14, "Tory vows to get rid of council junkets".

Everyone would agree that any expenditure by the council should be fully justified, but shouldn't the re-emerged leader of Telford & Wrekin Tories sort out Shropshire Tories first?

Peter Nutting, Tory leader of Shrewsbury & Atcham takes a "leader's allowance" of £15,805, but he is also a cabinet member of Shropshire County Council where he takes allowances of £16,317.

This combined figure of £32,122 is 12 per cent greater than the allowance paid to the Labour leader of Telford & Wrekin.

Malcolm Pate, Tory leader of Shropshire County Council takes a £4,347 allowance from Bridgnorth District Council and £31,914 from Shropshire County Council.

His combined figure of £36,261 is 26 per cent more than the Labour leader of Telford & Wrekin.

The Tories and Independent councillors who run Bridgnorth District Council take allowances which are two per cent of the budget while Telford & Wrekin councillors get allowances which are 0.2 per cent of the budget - a tenth!

How green is my county, David Cameron? The Tories on Shropshire County Council pay themselves 54.4p mileage allowance while Labour members on Telford & Wrekin receive 39.7p.

Then we have our county Tory MPs - Daniel Kawczynski, Owen Paterson and Mark Pritchard taking £10,013, £10,090 and £8,885 travelling expenses for 2005/2006 while Labour's David Wright took £4,504.

The Tories need to get their own house in order first.

Bill McClements, Telford