Essex Council paid prankster £500,000 to run Facebook group during pandemic

A cash-strapped council paid an internet prankster nearly £500,000 to share messages on social media during the pandemic.

Essex Council’s newly released financial documents reveal how Simon Harris was given huge sums of cash for the purposes of “community engagement”.

The comedian, who ran the recently closed parody website ‘Southend News Network’, was given 34 separate payments by the Conservative-run council between 2020 and 2023. The value of these payments ranges between £500 and £100,000 but together total a whopping £493,000.

It comes as the authority announced on Tuesday (9 January) that they are raising their council tax by 4.99% to 'protect and develop essential services' from April.

Deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson, who was often taunted by Harris on social media, ironically mocked the comedian following the revelations.

He wrote on X, formally Twitter: “Is this the same Simon Harris who has been trolling me on social media for the past year? Sending my best wishes to Simon at this difficult time.”

Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Wasting taxpayers' money like this is no laughing matter. While residents paid the price of the pandemic, the last thing they expected their hard-earned cash to be spent on is lining the pockets of a comedian.

"Essex County Council owe it to local households to crack down on waste and focus funds on frontline services."

Locals on Facebook vented their fury that their hard-earned cash had been spent on the entertainer, who it appears has since deleted his social media accounts.

One wrote: “Half a million!! What a disgusting waste of our council tax, should be made to pay it back.”

Another simply added: “Wasting taxpayers money as usual”.

Essex County Council said they had an “established relationship” with Harris before the pandemic, as he provided "digital consultancy and delivery via social media channels" to them. And when the COVID-19 outbreak swept through the country, they had employed him to “engage with communities” on critical issues affecting the local population.

These included sharing information relating to government restrictions, support for vulnerable individuals and volunteering opportunities at vaccination centres. They said Harris had helped to ‘amplify’ what the county council had published on its own social media channels so they could “engage with a much larger” audience.

Their spokesperson said: “The engagement levels the council achieved through ECVA (Essex Coronavirus Action) and other social media channels managed by Simon Harris during the pandemic period were far in excess of what the council would usually have expected during a ‘normal’ period of operation.”

“It is important to note the payments covered more than just social media content, and included activity to directly support others doing similar work across the county.

“Such payments were also made through Simon Harris for expediency.”

Simon Harris has been contacted for comment.