So why are they exempt from the inflation argument then?

I am sure I could roll out an answer for every defence of this rise

 

They aren't exempt from it, and I can't see it happening.

 

What is their excuse then?

Les

 

They'll get it ok, who do you thinks votes for it? They do ..............!

 

they're exempt from everything which affects the rest of the public sector in their opinion - capped 1/2 inflation raises, equal ops recruitment, not being able to afford to drive...

 

MP's should be paid the national average wage £25-£30k with no expenses, no final salary pension and no golden parachute when they are voted out of office. Job done.

 

That would get the the very best people as MP's wouldn't it

 

Following your logic, higher pay for MP's would result in better "quality" and "performance" from our MP's?

What a fool!

 

So millions of people at or below the national wage are morons? IIRC being an MP used to be an unpaid role.

My point is that MPs are increasingly out of touch with 'normal' people and one way of reconnecting with the people would be to live like them and not swilling around in a golden trough of public money. If MPs had their incomes squeezed as much as the average person is having to cope with these days you'd see far more relevant legislation passed and a lot less taxes I'm sure.

 

Not necessarily, but you have to make it a worthwhile pursuit as a career. Otherwise all the top people will go off and become investment bankers.

 

That's exactly what's wrong with politics. It shouldn't be a career.

 

What should it be, then?

I mean you want to have well educated people in parliament. These people are not only representing us, but have to be able to process and make decisions on some incredibly complex issues.

As the old saying goes, pay peanuts and get a monkey.

 

If as they have said they need that 25% extra to fund the additional London home whilst working at the House Of Commons, perhaps they should be issued a property maintained by the taxpayer instead. Convert an office block and issue them each a 2 bed apartment for business use which the taxpayer retains ownership of. Kind of like barracks for MP's, at least then it removes the chance for milking the system.

 

A secondary occupation, never the main career - just as it used to be.

With a few notable exceptions, today's politicans would rather tow the line than buck the trend and risk losing their livelihoods. Aside from that impetus, politics is a strange microcosm - we need real people representing us in government.

 

Does a secondary occupation not open things up to a conflict of interests?
I agree that politics does not have enough rebels, and people willing to risk all on a principle, or to reflect the wishes of their constituants, but, rather that, than some ****wit in a suit.

 

I imagine there would be new conflicts of interest, but they'd be quite obvious, and would surely outweight the fundamental problem of rewarding people for steering clear of anything contraversial.

 

Well at the end of the dat, if people keep gettign voted in, then they are arguably doing a good job.

If the public at large was fed up with MP's toeing the party line, then far more MPs would lose thier seats on a regualr basis.

At the end of the day, the MP does have an idealogical stance that is encompassed by a political party, and sometimes he/she will have to compromise thier views to fit in with the collective.

Otherwise you would probably end up with a commons filled with hundreds of independants. (not that would necessairly be a bad thing, but it would be an absolute nightmare to get eveyone to agree on something)

 

In my opinion most MP,s are only in it for the money,perks and any other scams they can get .This has only become more apparent with the stories of late ,eg charging themselves rent on their own properties ,having their family on the payroll without actually having done any work etc,etc .
A local MP near me had his car broken into recently ,all that was stolen was 3 bottles of House of Commons Whisky,probably pilfered !!!
As was said earlier ,they are so out of touch with us ordinary working people it is untrue .They need a massive paycut to see how sincere they are about working for the country,not another massive lump of our money .
Greedy ,trough snorting ,truffle huntin ,mudbathing swines .!!!
Rant over ,and this is my opinion for what its worth .

 

they haven't learned yet.

1. write to your MP and demand what their voting/support stance on this issue will be.
2. wait three weeks for a response.
3. if they admit to supporting it, inform them that they have lost your vote.
4. copy the reply to your local newspaper and make it public your sitting MP is a greedy, venal chancer who has forgotten that he/she serves the public not vice versa.
5. spread the word and persuade your friends and family to do likewise.

it's simple. if enough people got off their ***** and put pen to paper to put their local MP on the spot, insulting cr@p like this wouldn't happen.