Key Points
- According to Adam Postans from Bristol Live, Bristol City Council Leader Cllr Tony Dyer has unequivocally ruled out giving up his allowance of £20,000 as regional deputy mayor.
- The leader is currently paid £53,000 as salary for heading the City Hall, and his remuneration is under scrutiny during a full council meeting.
- Journalist Andrew Lynch has asked Cllr Dyer a question from the public gallery on the justification of the allowance and absence of entries in the leader’s online diary.
- Cllr Dyer responded to the question by arguing that the allowance was calculated by an independent remuneration panel (IRP), and he was going to stick with IRP’s decision.
- In sharp response recorded by Adam Postans, Cllr Dyer argued that independent remuneration panels can also be used to determine the salaries of journalists.
- After the exchange of views in the City Hall, Bristol City Council has added some entries in the leader’s online diary for the month of June and July.
- As per the previously disclosed information, the 2025-26 regional deputy mayor Cllr Kevin Guy had not deputised at any statutory public meeting.
Bristol (Bristol Express News) September 11, 2026 – Bristol City Council leader Cllr Tony Dyer has rejected a public call to hand back the £20,000 salary he receives for his role as regional deputy mayor, sitting on top of his £53,000 basic salary for running City Hall. During a spiky exchange at a full council meeting, Cllr Dyer (Green, Southville) hit back at questions, stating that the financial allowance was decided by an independent remuneration panel (IRP) and that he would not use his position to undermine its findings.
As detailed by Adam Postans of Bristol Live, the confrontation unfolded when freelance journalist Andrew Lynch challenged the council leader from the public gallery. Mr Lynch asked the authority’s leader if he would relinquish his West of England Combined Authority (Weca) allowance amid suspicions that the role did not entail sufficient work to justify the pay packet. Mr Lynch pointed out that Weca Labour mayor Helen Godwin expected the position to reflect roughly one day of work a week, yet this had not been clearly demonstrated, noting further that Cllr Dyer was already remunerated by the city council for a five-day working week rather than a four-day schedule.
What Was Cllr Tony Dyer’s Response to the Public Gallery Challenge?
Responding directly to the challenge, Cllr Dyer stated as reported by Adam Postans of Bristol Live: “The answer is no. I am not going to question the findings of the IRP. IRPs are set up to ensure that politicians do not set their own allowances. It would be wrong of me to question and ignore the findings of the IRP. If the IRP decides that the amount of money they give in this circumstance is lower, then I will accept whatever lower amount they decide, but I am not going to use my position to undermine the findings of the IRP.”
Pushing further during the session, Mr Lynch remarked as reported by Adam Postans of Bristol Live:
“So now we know you’re going to be paid £500 to £1,000 an hour. There is a lot of heavy lifting being done by the IRP. The thing is that the mayor of Weca said she expected it to be one day a week. Your online diary is way behind, so I can only tell from your May diary that you didn’t do any days a week. So do you do any days a week? Do you do one day a week as she said in her recommendation?”
Defending his record and commitments, Cllr Dyer replied as reported by Adam Postans of Bristol Live:
“When I’m asked to attend events or represent the deputy mayor of the West of England Combined Authority, I do not believe there has been an occasion where I have refused that request.”
Adding a sharp riposte to the journalist, Cllr Dyer also quipped that independent remuneration panels were very useful and that authorities
“should make more use of them, particularly, for example, judging journalists’ pay.”
Ahead of the meeting, a written reply provided by the administration listed six specific meetings that Cllr Dyer had attended in his capacity as deputy mayor since assuming the role in May. Furthermore, in the wake of the public gallery confrontation, Bristol City Council updated the leader’s official online diary to include missing logs from June and July, with the July entries explicitly clarifying which events he attended in his regional deputy mayor capacity.
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Background of the Particular Development
The controversy surrounding the regional deputy mayor allowance taps into long-standing public scrutiny over combined authority governance, mayoral structures, and the compensation packages awarded to local politicians in the West of England. The Weca deputy mayor position rotates annually between the council leaders of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath & North East Somerset.
Transparency issues surrounding the role are not entirely new. Earlier in the year, a Freedom of Information request revealed that the 2025-26 Weca deputy mayor, B&NES Council Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Kevin Guy, did not deputise for Mayor Helen Godwin a single time at any statutory public meetings—such as the Weca committee, the West of England joint committee, or the overview and scrutiny committee. While Mayor Godwin has defended the role as important and legally required, her predecessor, Dan Norris, opted not to appoint a deputy throughout his entire four-year tenure spanning from 2021 to 2025. These historical precedents have fueled public debate regarding whether the £20,000 stipend offers value for money or serves as an unnecessary layer of bureaucratic remuneration.
How This Development Can Affect Bristol Taxpayers and Local Politics
This high-profile clash at City Hall is likely to sharpen public and political scrutiny regarding transparency, accountability, and the efficient use of public funds across local authorities in the West of England. For Bristol taxpayers—many of whom face ongoing cost-of-living pressures and council budget constraints—dual-hatted executive roles and their corresponding allowances remain a sensitive touchpoint.
The immediate public airing of gaps in online scheduling and the subsequent update of Cllr Dyer’s calendar highlight how grassroots questioning and freelance journalism can directly drive administrative responsiveness. Moving forward, heightened vigilance from local watchdogs and residents is expected regarding whether regional leadership stipends deliver measurable, transparent public value, potentially placing future joint-authority appointees under even greater pressure to justify their time, workloads, and additional financial compensation.
