Mick Grant

The general public of North Lincolnshire need to know 18 local Tories last week failed to support the national minimum wage. As a trade unionist and Labour councillor I welcome the recent initiative to increase the minimum wage for adults to £5.73 per hour in October. This is a 60 per cent increase since the scheme began in 1998. Within the first hour of the scheme it took two million people off the breadline.

At last week's full council meeting I tabled a non-political motion welcoming the increase and recognising how it had helped thousands of people in North Lincolnshire. Not only did the local Tory group put forward a venomous anti-Government amendment, which was thrown out, but astonishingly they then abstained from approving our motion.

In other words they do not think the minimum wage is a good idea and, God forbid they ever come back to Government, I think we can safely assume they would ditch the minimum wage and send millions back into poverty.

I have asked the Scunthorpe Telegraph to name and shame these councillors as people need to know what the people they have voted for have said. Given their recent coverage I do not think they will do this. So here are the Tory members who did not vote in favour of the minimum wage.

• John Briggs
• Liz Redfern
• William Eckhardt
• Jean Bromby
• Rob Waltham
• Ivan Glover
• John England
• Trevor Foster
• John Berry
• Nigel Sherwood
• Carl Sherwood
• Ted Appleyard
• Margaret Sidell
• Keith Vickers
• Peter Clark
• John Wardle
• David Wells
• Don Stewart

Quite simply, these councillors are a disgrace.

In 1996 David Cameron was quoted as saying: "Labour's plans for minimum wages, the Social Chapter and large increases in spending and taxes would send unemployment straight back up."

It's nice to see the local Tories are as arrogant and out of touch as the Conservative leader.

On Sunday I took part in the Sainsbury's Sportrelief mile event at Central Park. About 50 people turned up to take part in the sponsored one mile run, including a number of players from Scunthorpe United and their manager Nigel Adkins.

I completed the one mile run and even beat a number of United players in the process!  I have managed to raise more than £60 for such a good cause and for my efforts I have been rewarded with a certificate and medal which now take pride of place on the office wall.

This Sunday I shall be taking part in the Sport Relief mile and will be running in Central Park to raise money for charity. Yesterday the local media came along to take a photo of me in training:

The event takes place on Sunday morning in Central Park and I would urge as many people as possible to take part and do their bit.  I have also been collecting sponsorship money from members although some have needed more convincing to part with their cash than others!!

 Keeping on with the fitness theme I will meet with the independent remuneration panel this afternoon and intend to ask them to increase the mileage allowance for people to cycle to and from meetings. I don't feel the current rate encourages people to get out of their cars and on their bikes.

I was intrigued to read today's Scunthorpe Telegraph and their report on councillors' food claims and wanted to set the record straight. I'm not sure why it's suddenly made the news now as receipts have never been needed since the inception of the council 12 years ago. Rates are set by an independent remuneration panel and are independently reviewed every year.

While the figure quoted in the story is correct, this amount is not just for food as is claimedl ('The headline 'Eating Up Your Cash' and mouth watering picture of a pie are slightly misleading!). Infact a large amount of the claim is made up in hotel bills. Later this week, for example, I will be in Sunderland attending a meeting of The Alliance. I will stay in a relatively cheap hotel at a cost of around £70 and then claim the relevant amounts for any meals I have. My portfolio as cabinet member for housing and strategic planning means I attend meetings regionally, sub-regionally and even nationally. Last month I attended Port Talbot in Wales, this week Sunderland. I have perhaps attended six or seven such meetings in the last few months, all of which go towards the allowance stated in the newspaper.

If it wasn't for attending meetings of groups such as The Alliance then millions of pounds of European funding would not have come to North Lincolnshire. You have got to be there fighting the corner of North Lincolnshire or we would just not see the investment. We are currently trying to fight for more Lottery funding for this area as it seems millions of pounds will be diverted to the London Olympics rather than for good causes in North Lincolnshire. I attended a special meeting in Wales earlier this year to fight our cause.  I spoke to the Telegraph so they could inform their readers of what we are trying to do and they didn't print anything. I then spoke to the Deputy Editor and still they did not print anything. Good news clearly isn't as good as bad news!

For the Telegraph to claim my expense allowance is solely for food is totally wrong. Had they asked for a breakdown I would happily have explained it to them - unfortunately it looks as though, when they rang me for a quote for this story three weeks ago, they had made up their mind what the story they wanted to run was.

One councillor asks why members should have lunches paid for as many in the private sector have to pay.  That member makes a good point.  However, if the average salary is £26,000 and North Lincolnshire councillors receive a basic salary of just £7,000, is it really a fair comparison? Are councillors underpaid for the many hours they put in? I am sure many would welcome a simpler scheme giving members a salary with no expenses. But would it really be a better deal for the taxpayer? And how much should that level be set at? If there was an increase from £7,000 to £28,000 I imagine a four-times increase would be met with public outcry!

As for the Tories claiming expenses should be done away with, this is the same Tory group who last month tried to get mileage expenses extended! Their hypocrisy knows no bounds - how John Berry can claim for 9,000 miles when no-one else claims for more than 3,500 and then turn around a month later and say they should be scrapped is beyond me.  Incase Telegraph readers have forgotten about the Tory arrogance, they can be reminded by clicking here !