I have a question. What other job requires no formal qualifications, no business experience, no specified work experience and yet the starting salary is £64,000 plus expenses? In the past days I've pondered this question and have yet to find even one area of employment where this is feasible.
Why aren't MPs on a graded salary scale like other public servants? No officer joins the army and starts at the salary of a Lt. Col. (£65,717). They join as a 2nd Lt. on a salary of £24,133 and that is usually after spending a year training at Sandhurst earning £15,268. Let us not forget messing costs come out of these military salaries and all must travel second class - no business class for our military.
The argument against this is MPs may only be in their jobs for a maximum of 5 years and therefore a good remuneration is required to attract 'the right type of person'. What is this right type of person? Who evaluates the right person? Most wannabe politicians come up through the party system and that is fine, but for the inexperienced and long-serving to be receiving the same salary is incomprehensible. It is this pay structure which has possibly encouraged many of the longer serving MPs to claim excessive allowances.
If they prove themselves to be good at their jobs surely there is no reason why they should not be re-elected therefore the 5 year reason does not stand up to scrutiny. Most ex-MPs can find cushy little directorships to keep the wolf from the door or be elevated to that bastion of the 19th century the House of Lords. The average worker has a pittance of a state pension to look forward to at the age of 65 plus any private pension to which they will have made considerable contributions throughout their working lives.
Muriel Gray states in the Sunday Herald that MPs salaries should be raised and allowances scrapped. All well and good then raise the upper end of the grading. Start a new MP on around £35,000 with yearly increments of £5,000. Using such a system an MP who has been in post for 10 years would be receiving £85,000 which is a respectable income for someone who doesn't require any qualifications for the job.
It would be acceptable to the public that MPs claimed London accommodation when necessary but the purchase of property should be banned and also the claiming of council tax, food and utilities.
Travel should be second class. If our representatives wish to travel first class then they should personally pay the difference. There will be squeals of 'I need to do work on the train' and other excuses but that is what they are - excuses.
As for the House of Lords that's another matter. It needs overhauled from top to bottom, a salary paid instead of the attendance allowance and members must be elected. It will be difficult, but not impossible, to create a salary structure for the Lords because, like the Commons, it is not compulsory to attend each and every working day. It is time our top civil servants put their intellectual heads together and worked out remuneration packages suitable to all concerned and that includes you and me.
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That sounds sensible. It has to be remembered that the job of MP is a part-time one. It is intended as such, because around 90 members of the ruling party have ministerial-type jobs from the PM down to PPS, which are clearly also part-time. Of course many MPs have directorships or radio programmes or columns in newspapers to add to their incomes.
Iain McWhirter's article in today's Herald has some excellent points about the greed culture and is well worth a read SR.
We need root and branch reform including far fewer MPs and an elected senate of 60 or so. One reform I'd like to see is that these people remember who and what they are... ie public servants, not "rulers".
The best reform, of course, would be to lose all Scottish MPs/"lards" for good!
It's the only answer tris, it would also sort out the troughers I think and perhaps we'd get a more committed representative.
Sorry tris, should have said Ian MacWhirther's article is super. I linked to Muriel Gray's piece but was hoping people would read the whole page.
Wonder why they've stuck 3 journalists on the one page?
SR... Iain has written another piece called "How Greed became God", which was actually the one I was refering to. Both pieces are really excellent.
http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2509966.0.0.php
Ah yes tris, I've only glanced at that. I've been busy this morning but should get time to read the papers more thoroughly in a while. Thanks for the link.
Ta for the links to the Herald articles, those two articles were definately worth a read. So...oo different from the "Hootsmon" offerings.
...and some of those rabid whatevers who post in the "Hootsmon" comment sections.
subrosa,
Your headline reads MPs pay - and so they should the greasy, greedy sods.
Oh Brownlie, I shall have to try harder to ensure my titles don't coney the wrong messages ;)
Tom I sometimes comment on the Hootsman forums :) But very occasionally these days right enough.
I've just had a look at the "Hootsmon" on Sunday.
Dearie me, some wits have been sharpening their claws in the "furniture expenses" article,right enough.
Step forward "Best of British" and Jimmy le pie.
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