Councils: too many big earners to reveal

David Jones/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Eric Pickles probably thought he'd hit on a brilliant plan: get the councils to publish details of those earning more than £58,200 a year, and you'd get them to think twice about paying these vast sums to the one or two staff members who have earned the privilege.

However, he massively underestimated the greed of councils, and the vast swathes of council members on over-inflated salaries. Now many are saying that they simply have too many of these massive earners to be able to publish all the details.