UKIP councillors on Dudley council have rejected a 2.2 per cent pay rise and are urging colleagues across the political spectrum to do the same.

The Labour-run council has hiked up the basic allowance for councillors from £9,393 to £9,600 per year.

Members with special responsibilities have also received the rise - including council leader Councillor Pete Lowe whose annual pay packet has been boosted from £23,482 to £23,999.

UKIP group leader Cllr Paul Brothwood slammed the pay increases as an "insult to the taxpayers of Dudley borough" at a time of austerity.

He said: "With hundreds of staff on zero hour contracts and with council planning to cut £200,000 children's services, we would rather see frontline staff and services prioritised and not councillors' wallets.

"The Labour Group has already given massive pay increases to senior management in Dudley Council which only UKIP fought. They now want councillors to have a piece of the pie.

"The council is desperately short of money - I just can't believe they're offering a pay rise."

He said all seven UKIP councillors – including Halesowen North’s Stuart Henley - have rejected the rise and are asking for the money to be donated to the council's community forums to benefit residents and community groups.

Cllr Brothwood is now urging fellow borough councillors to reject the extra cash and "put the people of Dudley first". He added: "It's just not appropriate."

The full council voted in October 2013 to continue the practice of indexing members allowances in line with the staff pay award.

Cllr Lowe said: "The 2.2 per cent increase in January matches the award that staff have had.

“Some councillors have already made the decision to put the money into the community forum pot and arrangements are being made for this to happen.”

Cllr Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley's Conservatives, said he doubted councillors would have noticed the difference in pay and he branded the decision by Dudley UKIP councillors to reject the rise as "a headline seeking gesture that counts for nothing".

He added: "The Conservative Group are the only mainstream party in Dudley that wishes to reduce the cost of politics locally by a serious amount.

"Our proposals for all out elections once every four years would save close to a million pounds over a four-year period. This is a serious amount to re-invest in frontline services."

He also believes costs could be cut by reducing the number of councillors.