Welsh Conservatives have labelled a Cardiff council decision to recruit 11 new corporate directors earning between 120 and 130 thousand pounds ‘lunacy’.

The deadline for applications passes on Thursday 31st January.

The new jobs were first suggested by Labour last year under a cloud of controversy. The move followed a reduction in senior management at the council just a few years ago.

The Shadow Minister for Local Government has today called for fairness and transparency on the issue of council pay. Speaking in the Senedd, Janet Finch-Saunders renewed her calls for a review of senior staff salaries.

Mrs Finch-Saunders said:

“Recruiting a team of high-flying overpaid execs at a time when everyone else is tightening the purse strings is pure madness.

“One new fat cat executive would be bad enough. Two would be unacceptable. Eleven is lunacy.

“This Labour council is a prime example of why the party should never be given control of Britain’s purse strings again.

“Taxpayers will rightly question why a band of Labour councillors – apparently devoid of any common sense – is using public money to create a new tier of unnecessary management.

“This is not the first scandal involving council pay and I urge the Minister to conduct a review of senior staff salaries.

“Cardiff Council’s foolish error of judgement must be swiftly reversed, the appointments scrapped, and this significant amount of money spent – as it should be – on public services.”