27 February 2015
Solihull Green councillors tabled an amendment last night to Solihull Council's annual budget to pay all core employees of the council at least the Living Wage of £7.85 an hour.
All Green councillors, as well as all the Lib Dems, Labour, UKIP and independent councillors, supported the amendment.
All Tory councillors, including the Lord Mayor (who is not supposed to vote unless it is a tie), voted against the amendment, and it fell.
Cllr Howard Allen (Shirley West), the Green parliamentary candidate for Solihull constituency, said: ""We need to make the minimum wage the rate of the Living Wage, since the majority of people in poverty in the UK are now in working households."
"Our Green budget amendment to pay the Living Wage would have been funded from the projected budget surplus at the end of the financial year.
"A living wage for all would transform the lives of thousands of people in my constituency. It's an essential first step on the road to a fairer economy."
Notes
Cllr Howard Allen (Solihull) is one of the Green Party's 12 national target candidates. Solihull is the only constituency in the West Midlands that currently has Green councillors in three different wards.
The Green Party in the West Midlands now has 25 councillors on 10 different councils, including our 10 councillor group in Solihull.
