dear editor - I am sure the Independent councillors in Pembrokeshire who voted through the pay rise for the chief executive would not have said that they needed to match private sector levels in order to retain the chief executive without having good solid evidence to hand.

Perhaps they could tell us just how many lucrative approaches the chief executive has received in an attempt to entice him out of local government and into a comparable job in the private sector?

Or, if that's a bit too personal, perhaps they could tell us how many chief executives of local authorities - over say the last three or five years - have been stolen away from the public sector as a result of being offered higher salaries?

There must be quite a few if such large salary hikes are needed to prevent it happening again.

John Dixon Plaid Cymru Assembly Candidate, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire