Former North Tyneside Reform leader denies taking 235% pay rise

The former leader of North Tyneside Reform has hit out at claims from political rivals that he accepted a 235% pay rise – despite voting against it. 

Coun Brian Smith has said suggestions that he accepted the pay rise awarded to him as leader of the opposition of North Tyneside Council, after speaking and voting against it, are “simply not true”. 

The row originates from a North Tyneside Council vote in September 2025, where councillors voted to raise their basic allowance by 3.2% and increase ‘special responsibility allowances’. 

A ‘special responsibility allowance’ is paid to councillors holding a number of roles, including cabinet members, chairs of committees and the leader of the main opposition party. 

Coun Smith voted against this rise, saying: “I couldn’t vote in favour of the proposals, as I’d just found out the council was forecasting an overspend by £14 million.” 

However, the vote passed and the allowances were increased, including a 235% rise for the leader of the main opposition party – a position Coun Smith didn’t hold until May 2026. 

He said he would have seen a 3.2% rise in his basic allowance as a councillor because of the vote, but “went to payroll and refused the increase”. 

On the back of Reform’s success, they became the main opposition party in North Tyneside Council following the May 2026 elections, and as their group leader he was automatically entitled to the additional allowance. 

Coun Smith said: “I thought I’d been paid twice by mistake, so I went to see payroll. They explained that it was the extra allowance and it was because the role of leader of the opposition made this pretty much a full-time job.” 

He was paid the additional allowance from May 2026 until end of September, when he resigned as leader of the opposition. 

He now receives only his basic allowance – which is £349 per year less than all other councillors because of his refusal to take the increased basic allowance in 2025. 

Coun Smith now sits as an independent councillor after leaving Reform North Tyneside. The council as a whole voted to reject another increase in allowances last month.