OUR Prime Minister gets paid £152,819, although she is entitled to £155,602, as the government seeks to exercise pay restraint on those who represent us.

Does anyone want her job in these extremely testing times? I think she earns every penny she gets.

Now look at the salary of the chief executive of Cheshire East Council.

In the year 2016/7 he was paid £226,180 including pension. This represents a simply staggering 48 per cent more than the Prime Minister, for managing a tiny county.

Whilst we have had our eyes focused on other matters, our county has continued to reward it’s chief executive this monstrous salary, even after being suspended in April 2017, meaning that he was suspended for all but 12 days in the last financial year, and subsequently resigning in July 2018.

A simply outrageous award for actually working 12 days. But even if he hadn’t been suspended for most of this time, the salary levels and costs are outrageous.

For the combined cost of paying Mr Suarez, who resigned, and Kath O’Dwyer, as acting chief, has been the mind boggling sum of £429,707 in the 2017/8 year (tucked away on page 87 of 161 of the last accounts).

And if anyone thinks this is the market rate, then the market needs a wholesale adjustment.

It is difficult to believe that as one of the 200,000 people funding this level of salary with ever higher council tax increases, we could find someone at a much reduced rate of salary, which should certainly be less than the PM’s.

Are any of our councillors willing to step up to the plate and get a handle on this out of control level of remuneration?

Richard Cussons Address supplied