The over-riding image of pigs at a trough is what invariably springs to the mind of most right-thinking people on news that every county councillor in Wales is set to get a 4.67 per cent increase come next March.

In this time of ever-rising prices and an inflationary spiral, that 4.67 per cent increase on its own might not seem overly generous. But that, as we all know only too well, is only part of the story.

The proposed rise comes hot on the heels of a whopping 17 per cent pay rise granted to our local representatives last March. So yes, this oinks of the worst sort of pork barrel politics.

The silence coming from those we elected to our local authorities will be deafening. Surprise, surprise — it already is.

Few, if any, have dared step forward to suggest that now is not the time for such an increase. And no taxpayer in Wales would be naive enough to believe that the pay rise would be refused by our part-time local representatives.

The fact that this proposed pay rise comes from the supposedly Independent Remuneration Panel of Wales (IRPW) might somehow offer the most hard-necked of our councillors political cover in justifying the raise. But none of us who find it harder and harder by each pay cheque to make ends meet, keep lights on, keep the thermostat functioning, put fuel in our vehicles and food in our bellies, will buy such pigfeed.

Under the IRPW proposals, the basic pay of a county councillor in Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd would rise by £800 a year from £16,800 to £17,600 from March. The recommendations also include pay boosts for council leaders and cabinet members.

In Ceredigion, the council’s leader is in line for a £2,550 a year pay rise, bringing the pay for the role up to £56,100. The deputy leader pay will rise to £39,720 a year, while the salary for cabinet members will increase to £33,660. In Gwynedd and Powys, the leaders of those councils will get £59,400 as larger authorities.

“The [IRPW] has a duty to set payments that are fair and that encourage and enable democratic participation,” it snorted.

We say that’s a porky if ever there was.

This level of greed is enough to turn people off anything to do with local politics.

Oink! Oink!