Cllr John Halsall, leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said councillors must be prepared to accept much more radical increases in the future THE councillors who have been elected to represent people on Wokingham Borough Council have rejected calls to cut their own pay. But they have also agreed their allowances should not be increased this year, while so many people are struggling financially during the Covid-19 pandemic. It comes after an independent remuneration panel recommended that allowances should be frozen until 2022. However, Cllr John Halsall, leader of the council, said it would be “short sighted and completely counter-productive” for councillors to continue refusing increases in the coming years.