Twenty-six months is a long time in politics but it is perhaps not long enough for Jack McConnell. In August 2002, the first minister let it be known through a Scottish Executive source that he had ruled out making special payments to councillors who lost office as a result of local government electoral reform. More than two years on, the first minister has apparently had a change of heart.

A remuneration committee chaired by Lord Sewel has recommended that councillors who stand down should benefit from a severance package worth (pounds) 30,000 at the top end for those who had served for 20 years. Based on a notional average salary of (pounds) 20,000, those who had been in office that long would receive a one-off payment worth 150% of the wage. The lump sum would fall in line with length of service. The package is one of several recommended measures which, taken with the introduction of PR for local authority elections from 2007, are intended to inject new blood into council chambers. Local government badly needs fresh talent to reinvigorate grassroots democracy and reverse the trend to ever-deeper apathy. There is, perhaps,

a case for paying councillors a basic salary, with special responsibility allowances restricted to the leaders of big councils, when voting reform comes in. MPs and MSPs are paid and, on leaving office, receive a pay-off and a pension depending on service.

If councillors were to be paid, it stands to reason that they, too, should be compensated. Making a case for compensation for existing councillors is a different matter, especially if only those who stood down in 2007 were eligible (the committee's recommendation). It would suit Labour to dissuade as many of its councillors as possible from retiring in 2007 because it stands to lose most seats under PR. But it is illogical and smacks of a carve-up to keep the party's councillors and activists quiet, and avoid bitter in-fighting and the build-up of grievances.

Many councillors currently earn a salary. By 2007, all will have had

plenty of time to prepare for a political future they might not share. All existing councillors should be denied a severance payment. It is what Mr McConnell used to believe. Offering a dubious financial incentive for party political convenience would get councils off to the wrong start when what they need is a clean break from a tainted past.