Tomorrow MPs will get to vote on their own pay rise. Nice work if you can get it.
They are likely to ignore the advice of Downing St for prudence and a 1.9% rise and vote themselves the 2.8% recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body.
At present MPs get paid £60,675.
I think they deserve more. In fact, I would suggest that they get a much bigger rise than that – perhaps bringing them into line with GPs, who are routinely earning £100,000.
However, there are two caveats attached to this pay rise. For a start, at least half of them need to go.
There are an astonishing 646 MPs at the moment.
All political parties are full of useless, faceless nobodies cluttering up the benches. We need bigger constituencies and less MPs.
By all means increase their office expenses, as long as they prove they are employing researchers for their researching skills.
You do see a lot of suspiciously hot young boys and girls floating around the corridors, in addition to which the vast bulk of researchers have solid party connections, as opposed to solid casework skills. Let’s not even begin to discuss the levels of nepotism attached to many jobs in Parliament.
The second caveat is that no MP should be allowed to accept money from any outside institution. Back in the day being an MP was kind of like voluntary work.
Gentlemen would attend to their profession (if they had something as common as a profession) in the mornings and then spend their afternoons and evenings at the House ruling over the British Empire.
In fact, the very first regular salary for MPs was instituted in 1911 to benefit the newly-elected Labour members who were in actual need of an income – until then all members had to be financially secure enough not to require payment.
The situation these days has completely changed – why on earth is it deemed acceptable that MPs can have paid interests outside Parliament and those of the people who elect them?
Why should former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, while still the sitting MP for Leicester West, be taking money from Boots and private equity company Cinven to “advise” them?
Why should Tim Yeo be a paid director of Univent plc, ITI Energy, Eco City Vehicles plc, AFC Energy and Groupe Eurotunnel SA, as well as MP for South Suffolk?
Why should it be OK for Doug Henderson to be on the board of McDonalds as well as claiming to represent the best interests of his constituents?
The Register of Members’ Interests is one of the most depressing documents anyone with any belief in real democracy can read.
MPs should have one job – representing their constituents. If an increased salary and increased expenses are not enough for them, then they should leave politics and find something more lucrative to do.
Even those who are very politically aware would struggle to name more than 100 MPs. In other words less than one sixth of them are making any sort of impact.
For every John Bercow or Gywneth Dunwoody there are a dozen non-entities, lobby fodder for their parties who have contributed nothing to our political process.
People who have trouble getting recognised in their own front room. I think we deserve a leaner, more efficient House of Commons with better pay and conditions for the 50% of MPs who would remain under my excellent plan.
