A spat has developed about the amount paid by Devon County Council to a management consultant.

In the run-up to yesterday's elections, the Liberal Democrats claimed the Conservative controlled authority could be paying £191,000 a year to Malcolm Vede.

The figure was calculated by taking his daily rate and multiplying it by 260, the maximum number of working days in the year assuming a five-day week.

Cllr Alan Connett who, as well as being leader at Teignbridge Council, is his party's spokesman on the county's health and adult services scrutiny committee, said: 'We have to question why the Conservatives are doing this and have apparently allowed the situation to go on, seemingly without an end in sight.

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