THE man in charge of Greater Manchester's congestion charge referendum is being paid up to £600 a day, the M.E.N. can reveal.

Sir Neil McIntosh, who will oversee the count and came up with the question people will be asked, will also get a flat fee of £10,000 after votes are counted on December 12.

The cash - the equivalent of an annual salary of £162,000 - is being paid jointly by the 10 councils of Greater Manchester.

A spokesman for Sir Neil, the official returning officer for the referendum, said the sum reflected the responsibility of the role and had been agreed after advice from the independent Electoral Commission.

Sir Neil, who also oversaw the referendum on Scottish devolution, has already come under fire from members of the 'no' campaign for the ballot pack he has designed.

Charge
The voting slip itself will contain a 'preamble' mentioning both the charge and the money that would be spent on trams, trains and buses if it goes ahead.

The question itself, printed below, will simply ask: "Do you agree with the proposals?"

Manchester Blackley MP Graham Stringer and others have claimed the question should have directly mentioned the charge, as a central part of the package. Sir Neil has described his question as 'fair, clear and balanced'.

A spokesman for the returning officer said: "Sir Neil's remuneration has been agreed, following advice from the Chair of the Electoral Commission, on a suitable level of payment for the responsibility involved in delivering the referendum across Greater Manchester.

"Sir Neil is to be paid a fee of £600 per day when he is attending to matters in person, whether in Manchester or attending meetings elsewhere in connection with the referendum. These fees, together with a one-off lump sum of £10,000, which recognises his overall accountability for the referendum, will be paid on completion of the process."

The ten councils are jointly bidding for more than £2.75bn of investment from the government's Transport Innovation Fund, including £318m to set up a peak-hour, weekday-only congestion charge. Of the total, £1.2bn would be in the form of a loan, paid back over 30 years out of profits from the charge.