ELECTION 2010: PROSPECTIVE PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES for 
Beverley and Holderness have criticised the decision by East Riding of Yorkshire Council to award a top pension payout of £364,205 to a council officer who is retiring early.
As reported in the Town Hall Rich List earlier this month, Sue Lockwood the council officer concerned had already recieved total remuneration of £135,646 in 2008-09 and was one of 10 senior council officers in the East Riding earning over £100,000.
Graham Stuart Conservative candidate backed moves by his party to change the way local councils award payouts to senior officers when they retire. Conservatives are calling for the name, title and salary package of every senior town hall official earning over £60,000 to be published online. In a press release to the Hedon Blog Graham Stuart said:
I am still at a loss to understand how, in the current economic climate, the Council can justify paying this sort of cash on a discretionary basis. The Council should concentrate limited resources on the provision of front line services which are genuinely needed by residents.”
Labour Party Candidate Ian Saunders stated in an interview to the BBC that:
It’s disgraceful. Giving her a payout when she’s already on a damn good pension. I would agree with Graham Stuart on this. Three hundred and sixty thousand could have been spent on front line services. If it was a dustman who gets just 8 or 9 grand then that is private but when you’re talking hundreds of thousands, that kind of thing should be in the public domain.”