IN response to my recent challenge in The Globe for councillors to reduce payments to themselves by 25 per cent, thus saving more than £200,000 a year and enabling them to prove that "we are all in it together", the council leader has announced instead a derisory cut of just five per cent.

That's less than £10 a week off the standard attendance allowance for each councillor.

Meanwhile, 1,200 council jobs are going, just to put the whole thing into perspective.

Among those leaving the council’s employment are people who have worked with headteachers and voluntary school governors for many years, and they take with them an in-depth knowledge and a wealth of experience of schools in Wirral which is irreplaceable.

While all this is going on, the council has paid almost half-a-million pounds in consultancy fees to outside agencies in the last three months.

Does anybody really believe that this sum will not rocket in future, as councillors struggle to find a substitute for the expertise they seem so readily prepared to jettison now?

But if Wirral Globe readers look beyond the headlines, they will find even more cause for concern.

Because as well as jobs, services are also in line for cuts. As an example, we have been advised that Wirral Council is now "reviewing the funding required” for its governor support service.

This is something on which headteachers, governors, governing body clerks and the general public rely for professional advice and support in relation to running schools.

As I have said, a lot of experience and expertise has already gone by way of job cuts. Now it looks as though this vital element of school support is about to be allowed to wither on the vine.

Money saved from my original proposal to cut 25% from councillors allowances could have been used to support this valuable service.

Unfortunately, none of our 66 elected representatives seem prepared to enter into a genuine debate about just how much they think they are worth, engaging instead in the usual gesture politics as illustrated by their massive 5% personal sacrifice.

"Wirral governor"

Name and address supplied.