Hackney councillors have awarded themselves huge pay rises - in many cases between £20,000 and 35,000 - while more local services have faced cutbacks. A spokesperson for the council stated that the increases were agreed back in November but have been paid since January of this year.

Barrie Hibberd, a member of Hackney Tenants and Residents Convention voiced concern over the huge increases in the Hackney Gazette and we're sure that many others would agree that it's scandalous to give more money to councillors who have been decimating our services. Recently there have been cutbacks to council gardeners, Laburnum School and Kingsland School face closure and that's on top of the massive round of cuts from last year which saw funding to a range of community services reduced and in some cases stopped completely.

Clearly these councillors are more interested in getting their noses in the trough than in helping their constituents.