REDDITCH councillors have voted in favour of calling for a a national body to be established which will decide on councillors' allowances.

Redditch Conservative councillors called for the vote, and it was passed unanimously by the council committee.

Councillor Juliet Brunner, leader of the Conservative group on Redditch Council, said: "It's not right for councillors to be deciding and voting on how much allowances they should receive.

"In the majority of businesses and other government organisations employees don't get to vote on how much they should be paid so why should we?"

"MPs have an independent body who make these decisions so we as councillors should have parity. "

The council will ask that Redditch MP Karen Lumley meets with the Department for Communities and Local Government minister, Eric Pickles, to request an investigation into setting up an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) to deal with councillors' allowances.