PWRR Awarded Freedom of the Borough

A special meeting of the council has awarded the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment the Freedom of the Borough of Epsom & Ewell.

The meeting was only convened after opposition councillors outnumbered RA councillors in a vote to hold the meeting and after the latter had been subjected to widespread criticism in the national and local press for their failure to "honour" the Regiment.

Lib Dem councillor Jonathan Lees said "The Lib Dems were very happy to bestow this honour on the PWRR, but what is unfortunate is that the issue of supporting our returning troops has been linked with the issue of bestowing the Freedom of the Borough." He continued "Though this matter was brought to the council for political purposes, it has succeeded in the press and in the minds of too many people to ignore".

Lib Dem councillors felt that supporting their campaign for a better deal for all our armed forces - land, sea and air - would have benefited from the high profile given to Freedom of the Borough issue. Lib Dem proposals mean that no service personnel in the Royal Navy, Army, or RAF would receive less basic annual pay than a new-entrant police constable or development-level firefighter. These would be funded within the Ministry of Defence's existing budget. The lowest paid personnel would receive an increase of £6,000, placing them on £22,680. Privates and lance corporals would receive an average annual pay increase of over £3,000, with the average annual basic pay across these two ranks rising to around £25,000. Higher NCO ranks would receive an average annual pay increase of around £1,000. The Lib Dems also propose doubling the number of forces' family homes refurbished each year. Savings would be made in fighter jet procurement and operational costs and invested in providing helicopters for Afghanistan.