Councillors cost UK taxpayers an average of £11,067, according to figures published this week. Statistics published by the BBC on 13 July, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, include the cost of councillors' allowances, expenses and staff – and compares favourably with Westminster's MPs and their special advisers, as well as MEPs. A senior source at the LGA told The MJ the figures ‘prove the value of local government when compared with the centre [of government]'. According to data for 2007/08, the UK had 22,737 councillors costing a total of £254.6m a year. The research found the number of politicians and their advisers on the public payroll exceeded 29,000, at a cost of £499m. The total cost of MPs and ministers' pay, plus their staff, expenses, allowances and grants stood at £167m in 2007/08 – more than £240,000 per MP/minister. Parliament's 73 special advisers, the BBC discovered, cost an average of £80,800 a year. The total cost for salaries, expenses and payments to the opposition for the Lords was £19.1m.
