Croydon Council leader Mike Fisher

The Croydon Guardian website has just got round to following up Inside Croydon‘s report from Monday about the massive wage hike for Council leader Mike Fisher likely to be approved by a Tory-majority committee tonight.

Councillor Fisher, who could trouser pay and allowances of around £64,000 a year as a result of tonight’s decision, did not respond to our requests, but he has deigned to speak to the local free paper.

He said:

“We want to phase this in over a couple of years. We will take 50 per cent of the increases or decreases this year and 50 per cent of the increases or decreases next year.

“It is up to individual councillors to opt out of the increases.”

The Labour opposition on the council accused Fisher and his Conservative group of having their “snouts in the trough” over their wage hike. By deferring half of the pay rise until 2011, does Cllr Fisher think he is dipping only half his snout in the trough?

Cllr Fisher is about to preside over £70 million-worth of cuts in Council expenditure, involving possibly 25 per cent of local authority staff having their jobs axed.

So we expect him to demonstrate real leadership and be the first to opt out of any increase, and to insist that all his Conservative party group on Croydon Council does the same.

Croydon councillors to vote themselves whopping pay rises (From Croydon Guardian).