Does anyone else not give a damn about Alan Duncan?

Agreed- I don't think they should be earning millions but I do think it makes sense to pay them an attractive salary (eg £100-150k). While you obviously don't want people in politics who are motivated just by money, I don't see that making the pay reasonably attractive to business people, lawyers, head teachers, doctors etc is a bad thing. It would be great if there were more experienced, talented people in politics, not just career politicians whose main talent is greasy pole-climbing.

(For clarity, this was in response to Zebra)

P&P I am just wondering by what you mean by 'most people having to make do with less' - is that as in generally, most people are earning less than MPs, or that CURRENTLY people are habing to make do with less, due to recession?

L
xx

The last one (sort of).

Salaries in many sectors have been increasing at well below inflation for several years now (despite several "promotions", in real terms I'm financially no better off than I was in 2002). So it isn't purely a recession issue, it's been brewing for a number years.

P&P, I was agreeing with her general irritation.

I actually don't agree with her comment "Yeah, right, and I want a yacht and a million quid and that ain't happening either" because I don't believe that many MPs are in it for the money. Despite their crapness and despite the expenses scandal, I don't think that any appreciable number are motivated by money in their decision to stand for parliament. It's such a slog to get a seat, such hard work when you get one, so uncertain for one's future- I really think that anyone who's capable of getting themselves elected could make themselves just as much money with a lot less effort in other careers, and they wouldn't have to give up their privacy either.

This isn't to say that they're all in it for pure motives (although I think many of them are motivated to some extent by a desire to do good). I just think that status, power and the pomp of parliament are far bigger draws than cash. I'm not sure how you remove these things from the equation- a desire for power is obviously a prerequisite in an MP (they need to fight for election, after all) but people with that sort of desire are never going to be purely interested in the public good- their own advancement is always going to figure large.

It's a bit like gun ownership- the only people who should be allowed to do it are those who have absolutely no desire to do it ? Not sure what the solution is really, but I don't think keeping them on short commons can be it.

Is that standard? Most of the employed people I know get annual pay rises, at inflation. In real times in the last year my mortgage has fallen massively, my gas and electric have also just fallen. If I had a job (and most people haven't lost theirs/taken a pay cut) I would be a lot better of just now than at any point in the last 5 years.

L
xx

OK, I get you now.

FWIW I mostly agree with you, especially that the majority are in it for the good of their constituency. But equally I don't see salary hikes as being an answer either. I still think salary should = basic rate + sliding scale based on travel distances + adjusted for cost of living in constituency. Somebody would still gripe, but at least it would seem "fair", improve transparency, and cut out the need for all these expense claims.

Not sure what you mean by standard, but no not across the whole country, however, by most measures, the "winners" are being outnumbered by the "losers".

Despite what the Mail will try and tell you, the civil servive has had sub inflation(<2%) increases for a number of years now - and we're not the only area. At the same time, I've seen my leasehold service charge increase 100% in seven years, while travel expenses and council tax have gone up by around 60%

While you may have gambled and won out on the mortgage stakes, anyone on a fixed rate certainly hasn't. Those with savings have seen massive falls in their returns. And all of us will be seeing cuts to public services in the very near future. I think we're still in the phony war stage of this recession, with worse still to come as unemployment continues to rise, tax revenue falls, public spending falls, those with savings (esp pensioners) eat into them until they they are gone.

Nor has anyone who is renting.

I'm with P&P - we're only financially better off in the past year or so because we moved out of London, otherwise our income wouldn't have grown at anything like the price of groceries, travel costs etc.

I also agree with P&P - I don't think the recession has started to bite properly at all.

You don't get offered fixed rates when you're this far sub prime.

L
xx

We (in the NHS) got a 1.5% rise this year.

I know the two aren't directly comparable, but between Feb 2007 and Feb 2009, there wasn't a single month when the average earnings index rate was higher than the Retail Price Index, strongly indicating that for large numbers of the population, pay rises were not keeping up with inflation.

Only since March have we seen any modest reversal of this trend, and there is insufficient data to conclude that it will continue.