MP's - Pay rise

big_white_dog84 said:
It is very difficult. On the one hand I don't want career politicians who join the party at uni, work as a special advisor etc for a few years then get handed a safe seat to be earning that much money. On the other hand we have to attract top quality people in - and £67k just isn't going to do that. We need captains of industry as MPs, and at my work even middle ranking engineers make more than that (with OT).
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They don't pay tax and they have expenses, so really they are earning a lot compared to someone who earns the same and has to pay tax and pay for their own stuff.
 
Russinating said:
Why do you have to be a member of a party to run as an MP?
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Because it's nearly impossible to get elected without a party machine behind you. The tiny number of independents we've had are almost exclusively ex-party politicians standing on a protest ticket.

The idea that anyone can stand for election and have even a remote chance of winning is fantasy.
 
MacRS4 said:
Ahahahah! Right. No, what you'll get is rich people doing the job because the income is pocket money.
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Do you really think that paying 20k more will mean current useless MPs will go elsewhere and we will get lots of new MPs who are much better?

IMO all we will get is the same people getting paid more which is a pointless exercise.
 
FFS, most of these career idiots live on their second incomes, money from their already loaded families. It does not matter to Clegg, Miliband or Cameron if the salary is £1 or £100,000 as they do the job for the power and privilege it gives them. This payrise is for the few normal people in parliament who have to survive on their wages as £65k in London is nothing.
 
We are starting a radical shake up of benefits I think it's time for a radical shake up on how we pay our politicians.

Maybe a penalty system as well for each time they act like children on PMQ's.
 
Stretch said:
Because it's nearly impossible to get elected without a party machine behind you. The tiny number of independents we've had are almost exclusively ex-party politicians standing on a protest ticket.

The idea that anyone can stand for election and have even a remote chance of winning is fantasy.
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Sadly this is true.

Martin Bell springs to mind as an exception but that was in light of a very public fall from grace for Neil Hamilton.
 
Lakeland said:
This pay rise is roughly the same as my entire salary as I start teaching.

If MPs are part of the public sector they should be part of the pay freeze, end of. I can't see how any argument can't be justified without bias
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So if teachers want to do a job with bad pay, why do they spend the rest of their lives whinging and striking about it?

This country sound be recruiting the best and brightest to run our country and the money they are paid will not do that. Regardless of public service no one wants to be earning 80k when they can easily earn much more with far less problems.

I guess that's why we get stuck with the governments we have. I personally don't think the money is high enough.
 
Bizarre comments about how outrageous this all is - presumably since they haven't actually read the article.

Firstly, this is old news. This matter has been doing the rounds for months so it seems a bit odd that Sky News are only latching onto to it now.

Secondly, the headline is utter nonsense. "MPs Are In Line For £20,000 Pay Rise" - where did that come from? Do they know what is about to proposed?

Thirdly, MPs are not voting themselves anything. An independent body is looking at remuneration as a whole. This might result in a proposal for basic salaries to rise but coupled with a reduction in expenses, pension and so forth - the net effect could be negligible. But, nobody knows what the report is going to say. And even when the report comes out, the likelihood of MPs voting themselves enormous rises is next to zero - rightly so.

Sky News seem to be on the same level as the Daily Fail :rolleyes:
 
dannyjo22 said:
So if teachers want to do a job with bad pay, why do they spend the rest of their lives whinging and striking about it?

This country sound be recruiting the best and brightest to run our country and the money they are paid will not do that. Regardless of public service no one wants to be earning 80k when they can easily earn much more with far less problems.

I guess that's why we get stuck with the governments we have. I personally don't think the money is high enough.
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Someone has a bee in their bonnet with regard to teachers don't they ;)

A) Not all teachers moan (note that I did not moan in my post)
B) That's a bit of a hyperbolic statement to suggest that those who do complain spend their whole life doing so.

If you think you're worth more why wouldn't you complain? You don't have a problem with MPs complaining...

I have worked in schools for the last 7 years and I can tell you that this topic does not come up very often. The main issue is lack of budget and education secretaries changing the goal posts every time there is a new party elected. That and putting too much emphasis on statistics, but this is a whole other topic which has most likely been covered a hundred times before.

I'm going to graduate with a 1st hons degree and a grade 1 (outstanding) for my teaching practise, yet I will be paid exactly the same as people on my course who will get a 2:2 or a 3rd and grade 3 (requires improvement) on their teaching placement. I'd say that's a more important issue to look in to than any MP wanting an extra 20k for their back-burner. Why not solve the problem at source?

MPs get expenses to:
cover the costs of running an office
employing staff (probably their wife/cousin/uncle)
having somewhere to live in London AND in their constituency (how much must this be costing????
and travelling between Parliament and their constituency (fair play, but no need for aeroplanes/limousines..)

End of the day there is a public sector pay freeze and they should be included just like the everyone else. I find it hard to believe there are any MPs on the breadline though I'd love to be proven wrong.

What do MP's claim? In Cumbra...
South Lakes LibDem MP Tim Farron claimed Cumbria’s highest amount, just ahead of Mr Stevenson at £39,990.96. So that equates to £105,000 including salary.

When the freeze is lifted, maybe put their wages up to 100k, but what if we didn't pay any expenses and restrict them from being part of any business activity while they are an MP, I'm sure they would think twice about rocking the boat.

If someone wants to be an MP and serve their country they will do so as long as their expenses are covered, and given that they have £65,000 on top of this they're doing pretty well, in my opinion of course. Once you start making it a big money job you will start to have people applying just because of the financial incentive as opposed to the actual job and what it is about. Really we should be about getting people in to a job that they are good at, rather than allowing people with the gift of the gab to get in to high paid jobs and make an absolute pigs ear of it.
 
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