Tackling The Negative Flak

摘要

The new year started inaus-piciously with an article in a Sunday newspaper on the first weekend of January attacking council chief executive salaries, somewhat ironically, as it happens, since the same publication carries a substantial number of advertisements for such posts. However, the point is not that this hoary old story has resurfaced, but that it might signal the start of a drip-drip campaign against the public sector, and local government, in particular, driven largely by resentment arising from the recession. SOLACE director, David Clark, for example, last week warned his members that similar stories were likely to follow, adding in his weekly briefing that 'as Britain slides deeper into recession, I can see that public sector pensions, in particular, are going to be deemed a fair target by various elements of the media, as well as parliamentarians.' The issue is further complicated by the imminent 2010 general election, with local government caught up in the flak. Eric Pickles has already threatened to cut top salaries, even though some of the highest-paid executives are in Conservative councils and their leaders are fuming at the intervention of their national leaders.