£86k...for two emails a week for f ive years!
a coUNcillor has received more than £86,000 of taxpayers’ cash to send only two emails a week for nearly five years.
Margaret george has not carried out a single surgery in four-and-a-half years on North ayrshire council and has been absent from the communityfocused meetings expected from elected members.
the financial adviser, who represents irvine south, has not formally logged a single piece of casework since she was elected in 2017.
according to records from North ayrshire council’s customer relationship management system, the conservative councillor has logged zero cases between May 1, 2017 and august 16, 2021.
Mrs george has defended her work ethic, claiming that she ‘met people in the street’ and made phone calls which were not formally logged. in comparison, tory colleague todd Ferguson has logged 289 cases with the software designed to track interactions between councillors and the local authority service provision. a case is logged when councillors contact the council to request to access a service. however, any non-service interactions are not taken into consideration by the program. By contrast, Mrs george sent only 427 emails between May 1, 2017, and september 6, 2021 – averaging two emails a week for fourand-a-half years. according to a Freedom of information request submitted to North ayrshire council, the conservative and Unionist members sent 26,786 emails in this time, with the top performer sending 9,886 emails – 30 emails a week – in a similar time period.
in addition to an annual salary of £18,604, councillors receive access to expenses as remuneration for their role in public office. over the past five years, councillors’ salaries have increased by almost £4,000 from £14,654.61.
in total, it is understood Mrs george has been paid around £86,000 in salary and claimed £213.15 in expenses during her time with the council.
Fellow irvine south elected members from the sNP and scottish labour have blasted the
apparent lack of work by Mrs george and urged her to reconsider her position.
sNP councillor christina larsen, said: ‘i have had constituents remark on Mrs george’s absence since she was elected in 2017.
‘these remarks have not only been in regards to her lack of holding any constituency surgeries, but also her lack of engagement in constituency casework.
‘i think she should think about her position and whether or not she should stand for office in the elections next year.’
labour councillor robert Foster added: ‘i would have asked for Margaret george to resign but a by-election would only cost the taxpayer even more money.’
the conservative group for North ayrshire released a statement on behalf of Mrs george.
in it, Mrs george said: ‘in terms of emails, it is possible that many of the contacts were done either through community councils, or by telephone, or by meeting people in the street.’
‘Think about her position’