This article originally appeared on Shaun Bailey's website. Shaun is a London wide GLA Member and the 2021 Conservative Mayoral candidate.
Bailey, who was selected as the Tory choice for mayor last autumn, has pledged to tackle increasing staff costs at City Hall, which he claims have ballooned by £19m to £55m since Khan was elected mayor in May 2016.
Part of this will include a cap on the salary of deputy mayors, political advisers who sit in the mayoral cabinet. Khan's deputy mayors for housing, transport and planning all earned a pay rise in February this year and now earn £130,000. Bailey has said deputy mayors will earn no more than £125,000 during his first term, which is what Khan's advisers took home back in 2016.
Khan currently earns £146,084, a near £3,000 raise on 2016. His 15 political appointees, which include advisers and deputy mayors, earned a combined £1.8m in 2019.
Bailey told City A.M: “From my experience in two levels of government I know the bureaucracy takes its spending cues from their political masters. Leadership therefore means setting a good example, and my pay plan demonstrates I am serious about getting City Hall’s finances in order and prioritising spending towards the things Londoners are most concerned about, like policing."
Bailey claims Khan's political appointees have averaged a 4.3 per cent increase in salary from 2016 levels, while the three most senior political advisers have received an 8.25 per cent salary hike.
Bailey and the Conservative members of the London Assembly, which scrutinises the mayor, have hit out at Khan for overspending on PR firms such London & Partners, the mayor's promotional agency, which Bailey has vowed to scrap.
Bailey claims his cost-saving drive will save taxpayers over £200,000 per year, money that would then be redirected to the policing budget.