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A council chief who was handed a £168,000 lump sum and £65,000-a-year pension after his role was scrapped has been given his old job back just nine months later.

Michael Lockwood left as chief executive of Harrow council in February after the then Tory-run authority cut the position to save money.

Mr Lockwood, who had been earning £183,097 a year, received a lump sum pension payment of £138,651 and £30,000 compensation along with his pension. But he has now been re-hired by the council, run by Labour after it swept to power in Harrow in May’s local elections.

Labour bosses decided that a chief executive was “crucial” for the council, which has to cut £75 million from its budget over the next four years.

Mr Lockwood will have to take a £20,000 pay cut, with an annual salary of just over £160,000. But residents hit out at the decision and one, Simon Reeve, 45, said:“It’s like a money-making merry-go-round at the council.”

Council leader David Perry said Mr Lockwood “has the right experience to take Harrow forward”.