• This topic has 96 replies, 49 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by jrb.
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  • MP Salary. Are we REALLY are it this together – E petition
  • jwt
    Free Member

    https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44225/signature/new.

    No MP Salary Increase

    Responsible department: Office of the Leader of the House of Commons

    At a time when the country is in deep financial crisis, the ordinary working people of this country are still losing their jobs, have been, still are suffering wage freezes while living costs are spiralling, and the government cutting or capping benefit payments, is it right for MP’s to get ANY pay rise, let alone a 32% increase they have been reported as wanting.

    WHATEVER HAPPENED TO “WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER”

    SAY NO TO ANY PAYRISE FOR MP’S.

    I’ve signed this, I think a message needs to be sent.

    gonefishin
    Free Member

    Frankly I’ve thought for a very long time that MPs are significantly underpaid for the work that they do and that that the expenses fiasco was a consequnce of deliberately suppressing their salaries.

    Deliberately keeping wages of MPs low will do little more than restrict the people who can actually become MPs to those of independant means. This was something that the Chartist movement in the 19th centuary campainged against and to go back to that sort of system is incredibly short sighted. The words nose and face spring to mind.

    obelix
    Free Member

    Sloppy thread title, makes no sense

    piedidiformaggio
    Free Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    This means that a) it’s their ONLY job, so they are fully focussed on it and b) no conflict of interest

    PJM1974
    Free Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    This!

    I’d go a step further and suggest that they’re paid a minimum until their term in office ends, whereupon their constituents get to decide their remuneration.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    I’d rather they had a proper job and did it for free.

    I’d like a lot less of them too. 100 politicians in the UK should be plenty.

    jfletch
    Free Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    This means that a) it’s their ONLY job, so they are fully focussed on it and b) no conflict of interest

    This – But it would be impossible to impliment.

    If I was a private company with an interest to pursue but I could no longer hire and MP as a “consultant” then I would just promise them a nice contract that is theirs once they leave office.

    the-muffin-man
    Full Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    +1

    They should also be barred from being MPs until they have done at least 5yrs work in the real world. Career politicians are killing the country.

    Philby
    Full Member

    They all knew how much the salary was when they put themselves forward to their respective parties to be Parliamentary candidates and, for those that were successful in the elections, to be an MP. So no sympathy from me.

    unklehomered
    Free Member

    Gonefishin +1

    Its a high risk job, with poor security. MPs more likely to loose their jobs due to the actions of someone else than how good a local MP they are. I want dedicated skills people competing to MPs, leaving the private sector to work in parlaiment, and not to be toadying at lobbyists. That said pay is just one part of the complex mix of factors that mean all we get a high proportion of nasty sneaks in positions of power.

    They all knew how much the salary was when they put themselves forward to their respective parties to be Parliamentary candidates and, for those that were successful in the elections, to be an MP. So no sympathy from me.

    But the argument is, a higher wage reflective of the work and commitment and comparable wages in the real world, would attract better people. Also, yes, no other income allowed, You’re an MP, that’s it.

    bruneep
    Full Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    This, as my mp constantly brings up the fact I have a pt job yet I’m on less than half what he earns without any expenses to do my day to day work.

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Just out of interest, how much do thier counterparts get paid in other countries?

    IIRC UK MPs (standard, back bench ones) get around £60k, which seems low to me as I know some pretty average sales people who are on nearly double that.

    binners
    Full Member

    Where do we vote for piedi di formaggio? He appears to have the answer!

    mulv1976
    Free Member

    Perhaps they should be paid more, but taking a huge pay rise whilst thousands of other public sector workers are losing jobs or taking effective pay cuts would be a massive p*ss take.

    It could even imply that we are not ‘all in this together’ and indeed being an MP is a massive gravy train.

    cheekyboy
    Free Member

    MP Salary. Are we REALLY are it this together – E petition

    Lets prioritise education

    From Wikipedia:

    The current basic annual salary for an MP in the United Kingdom is £65,738. In addition, MPs are able claim allowances to cover the costs of running an office and employing staff, and maintaining a constituency residence and a residence in London.[1] Additional salary is paid for appointments or additional duties – such as the chairing of select committees.

    Due to additional allowances it is difficult to calculate the annual basic salary of an MP, but for an MP with no additional responsibilities, who stays for a single term of 5 years, the MP’s severance package will raise the taxable salary by over £12,000 per annum (see Allowances below) – giving an effective annual salary of £77,738.

    Seems like good money for a public servant.

    slowoldgit
    Free Member

    Have them sign* in and out, and pay them for the hours worked. Being in the bars wouldn’t count.

    *Does anyone else remember clocking in and out?

    I signed, though I wonder if all it does is help the government collect details of dissenters.

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    Frankly I’ve thought for a very long time that MPs are significantly underpaid for the work that they do

    Basic salary for a backbench MP with no ministerial or committee responsibilities is a tad over £66,000. About the same as an average salaried GP or a superintendent in the police. The cost of running an office and travel/accommodation on Parliamentary business is covered.

    Figures from 2009 suggest that anything above 58,000 gross puts you into the top 5% of earners in the UK.

    I don’t know exactly who we are trying to attract to represent us, but I would have said that was a reasonable salary to attract a decent calibre of person to the job.

    brooess
    Free Member

    The electorate have a responsibility in governance too IMO. We need to understand that what we say we want isn’t always in the best interests of the country…

    The expenses scandal came about because public opinion was expected to resist a pay rise… but MPs pay was falling behind.

    Why would I be an MP on £65k if I can earn twice that in industry/set up my own company etc etc? As said above, you’ll end up only with those who are independently wealthy…

    If you want intelligent, articulate, well-educated MPs you have to pay them at least parity against the other employment options they have… I wouldn’t work for low pay, why should an MP?

    So go ahead and sign the petition if you want another expenses scandal or low-quality MPs…

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Philby – Member

    They all knew how much the salary was when they put themselves forward to their respective parties to be Parliamentary candidates and, for those that were successful in the elections, to be an MP.

    This is the exact line people hit other public sector workers with, I see nothing to make it any more or less valid for MPs. And since it’s them that set the agenda which is payfreezing others, it seems only just that they receive the same treatment.

    But I reckon there’s 2 different questions here, payscales and payrises. The latter- payrise- as far as I’m concerned if you tell those you’re responsible they can’t have one, then you can’t have one. Simple.

    But that doesn’t mean the pay is right in the first place- and if it’s not, you don’t fix it with incremental payrises, you fix it by assessing what the job’s worth and doing a one-off correction. Not the same thing.

    I saw an interesting comment- didn’t get the survey details unfortunately- but a wee cheeky survey where they asked members of the public “Are MPs paid too much” – yes. “How much do you think they should get paid? £75000. And how much do you think they get paid? £100000.

    ianv
    Free Member

    Bit old but:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7961849.stm

    US house of representatives is approx £114K

    Personally, I don’t think they are underpaid considering how little real value most of them add and how inexperienced a lot of them are. Even if they were, it takes the piss to be pushing for a pay rise now when pretty much everyone else is seeing their living standards eroded.

    unklehomered
    Free Member

    Its worth pointing out they aren’t pushing for it. Well individually some are, but the suggested pay review has come from an independent body. Also worth pointing out much of present cabinet has huge pre existing wealth, so are not really dependent on their government wage, they’re already minted.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    +1

    They are very underpaid. I’d think somewhere just under £100k would be about right if you want to stop MP being the preserve of people who inherit millions through their family or married into money etc.

    As for complaining about “the ordinary working people of this country are still losing their jobs, have been, still are suffering wage freezes while living costs are spiralling, and the government cutting or capping benefit payments,” – blame those who voted Tory, the current financial squeeze is entirely engineered, we could have chosen to invest in growth….

    binners
    Full Member

    To be fair to them; voting yourself a massive pay rise, while freezing the pay of those below you is precisely what has been taking place in the private sector boardrooms of their chums, for the last 5 years.

    So its not hard to see where the idea’s come from

    footflaps
    Full Member

    To be fair to them; voting yourself a massive pay rise, while freezing the pay of those below you is precisely what has been taking place in the private sector boardrooms of their chums, for the last 5 years

    Good point, they’re just keeping up with the common people(‘s bosses).

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    Deliberately keeping wages of MPs low will do little more than restrict the people who can actually become MPs to those of independent means.

    IF you cannot live off more than double the average wage [ + expenses]of the populus you govern then you should give up your right to govern.
    Almost all supplement their wages with outside interests as many of the scandals show and they get rather long holidays which enable them to do this.

    comparable wages in the real world, would attract bettergreedier people

    FTFY
    Comparable with what exactly – consultant/Deputy Head …you really think they have harder job than those?

    Why would I be an MP on £65k if I can earn twice that in industry/set up my own company etc etc?

    Is it because you give a shit and you want to make a difference rather than make yourself richer? I know imagine that attribute in a politician If it weeds out those who are interested in their own financial well being [ despite being in the top 5%] then I dont actually think that is a bad thing

    TBH I would use quorate to get a cross representation of society rather than just get upper middle class university educated blokes drawn from a very narrow social strata who struggle to get by on that wage

    Amazed so many are defending them and thin that tha wage is low
    PS have you seen the pension deal they give themselves

    Northwind
    Full Member

    It’s a fine line between attracting career people purely because of the money, and deterring good people because the money’s not good enough, to be fair. Possibly there’s no line at all.

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    To be fair to them; voting yourself a massive pay rise, while freezing the pay of those below you is precisely what has been taking place in the private sector boardrooms of their chums, for the last 5 years.

    I’ll not have that said! I know of a company where the MD gave himself a £10k pay cut. From £550k. A real man of the people.

    grum
    Free Member

    Why would I be an MP on £65k if I can earn twice that in industry/set up my own company etc etc?

    Most of them could only earn twice that in industry thanks to the corrupt favours they hand out as MPs, or because daddy sets them up with a nice successful business.

    I agree with piedro di formaggio too though.

    ninfan
    Free Member

    Seems like good money for a public servant.

    On a par with the average wage for a secondary school headteacher isn’t it?

    Also same ballpark as an army colonel, police chief superintendent etc.

    gonefishin
    Free Member

    IF you cannot live off more than double the average wage [ + expenses]of the populus you govern then you should give up your right to govern.

    You don’t attract the best people for a job by deliberately suppressing wages. Frankly I’d much rather have someone who is good at the actual job and only in it for the money than some naive person who wants to make a difference. The pay is low for the job that they do, and the uncertainty of their continued employment. If what you want is a parliament full of people who are independantly wealthy and therefore do not represent society as a whole then keep wages low.

    binners
    Full Member

    They earn their money though. Be honest. There’s not enough money in the world you could pay me, to have to spend every working day with the kind of loathsome, slimy, obnoxious little cockroaches that occupy Westminster.

    Imagine if every day when arriving at the office, the first thing you bumped into was this….

    or this…

    or this..

    Doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Personally, I think they should be paid more, but barred form any other form of employment during their time as an elected member of parliament.

    this +1

    Suppose your ideal candidate is an ex head teacher, head of the police force, hospital administrator, or a manager from a local industry. All of those jobs pay more than the MP’s who are supposed to be manageing them.

    I’d like to cut the number of MP’s down to the number of councils, then each having a vote proportional to their consituency size. e.g. Sheffield city would have 1 MP, Derby City would have 1MP, sheffield would get 3 ‘votes’, derby 1 ‘vote’ (750,000 Vs 250,000). And cut it to 1 election, no more council, MEP, and general elections. That way the MP is actualy accountable for local services.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    You don’t attract the best people for a job by deliberately suppressing wages

    To think that people of morals only come at a HUGE price tag is just ridiculous and again it just excludes the avaricious which is no bad thing
    As for an MPS wage being suppressed ..that is a joke right?

    Frankly I’d much rather have someone who is good at the actual job and only in it for the money than some naive person who wants to make a difference.

    Straw man this is not the actual choice. I am alos not clear on how you could be a good MP if you dont actually care

    The pay is low for the job that they do, and the uncertainty of their continued employment.

    It is not, it is not that hard to do what the party tells you do in terms of voting and go BO Yah at the right times in the house

    If what you want is a parliament full of people who are independantly wealthy and therefore do not represent society as a whole then keep wages low.

    you are right the only thing holding back the 95 % of the population who earn less than this is the low wages 😕
    That point makes no senses. The wage is not low and it deters no one but the very wealthy /greedy I assume what with it being the top 5 %
    No offence but that made me chuckle

    gonefishin
    Free Member

    To think that people of morals only come at a HUGE price tag is just ridiculous

    Morals, no. Ability, yes. That is the simple truth of how things work in our society.

    The wage is not low and it deters no one but the very wealthy /greedy I assume what with it being the top 5 %

    Nice cherry picking of what I actually said. I would not describe myself as “very wealthy” or particulary “greedy” but that wage, for that job? No thanks.

    eat_more_cheese
    Free Member

    Sloppy thread indeed…and how about an opinion OP rather than jumping on the anti-anything band wagon. Having an independent panel dictating if MPs salaries are too low/high seems like the correct format to me. I’ll not be signing.

    jwt
    Free Member

    I’m happy for MP’s to have a pay rise, as long as that is their only income.I feel that to have a potential 32% increase in salary when most other public servants are having pay cuts or losing their jobs doesn’t really gel with the idea ‘we are all in it together’
    Sloppy thread title seems to have sparked debate, it is interesting to see how other people view this.

    grum
    Free Member

    Morals, no. Ability, yes. That is the simple truth of how things work in our society.

    I wish I shared your vision of our perfectly meritocratic society.

    binners
    Full Member

    Are you insinuating that the present parliamentary crop have got their positions through something other than merit?

    Pfft! What nonsense!!! Next you’ll be coming out with some ludicrous suggestion that they’re all the product of the same handful of schools, feeding into the same 2 universities, all to do the same course

    oh…. erm….

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    Morals, no. Ability, yes. That is the simple truth of how things work in our society.

    I disagree entirely I think you can find ability at many levels of remuneration.
    unless of course you are arguing the 95% of us who earn less than this have no ability ?say the teachers,nurses, the doctors, the solicitors the coppers, the soldier, paramedics all of them lack abilitydue to the pay level

    Nice cherry picking of what I actually said

    I quoted your entire post 😕

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