£150-a-head council banquet criticised in age of austerity

George Grubb, the civic leader, has decided to instigate the gala event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre to mark the end of his term of office after five years.

Up to 900 guests are expected at the £1,440-a-table bash, which Princess Anne will be attending.

Violinist Nicola Benedetti is being lined up to perform.

But concerns have been raised about how much the event on 20 March will cost to stage, the prospect of it being held during the “purdah” period in the run-up to the elections, and the level of secrecy over the banquet, about which opposition councillors were kept in the dark.

The council confirmed that chief executive Sue Bruce and her senior officials will be taking a table of ten at the event, but paying for their £144 tickets out of their own pockets.

However, despite being billed as a celebration of “Edinburgh’s position as a capital city”, officials said the dinner would be a strictly non-political civic event.

The Lib Dem-SNP administration in Edinburgh decided to instigate a Lord Provost’s Banquet four years ago in an effort to emulate the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was flown in to Scotland to address the first event, which cost £40,000 to stage and was paid for by a mystery benefactor.

It also featured guest appearances from author Ian Rankin and city “makar” Ron Butlin, raising more than £22,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust. However, a second event was never held, amid concerns it would have been inappropriate to stage such a high-profile dinner while the council was shedding jobs and services.

Despite this, the Lord Provost, who is standing down as a councillor in May, has written to hundreds of business leaders across the city urging them to attend.

The ticket prices are expected cover all costs involved with the banquet, while all proceeds from a fundraising auction and raffle will be going to the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust in Edinburgh, and the Hamlin Fistula Relief and Aid Fund, in Ethiopia.

However, Andrew Burns, Labour group leader, said: “I can understand why the Lord Provost might want to have an event like this before he leaves office, but we were completely unaware this was being planned.

“We do have concerns, both about the potential costs to the council of this event and the timing of it so close to the elections.

“We are all warned as elected members that there should be no council events of a political nature after 13 March. We also supported the postponement of the banquet while the council was cutting jobs and services and those circumstances haven’t changed.”

Tory group leader Jeremy Balfour added: “We would want to make sure there is absolutely no cost to the taxpayer from this event and there is no doubt the timing of it could have been much better. It would also have been the courteous thing for the Lord Provost to let opposition councillors know what he was planning.”

Mr Grubb said: “The banquet is a civic occasion bringing together leaders from numerous sectors in Scotland’s capital city to raise awareness of and generate support for worthwhile charitable causes.”