Detailed breakdown of MP expenses.

Sejanus Aelianus said:
I'm shocked, truly shocked, to discover that our elected representatives take so much on top of their already excessive salaries. :jawdrop:

Only not a lot. :rolleyes:
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Do you seriously belief they have excessive salaries?
 
dejongj said:
Do you seriously belief they have excessive salaries?
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Well, obviously not. It's not as if they walk around with two bottles of champagne!

That would be excessive.
 
rjbell said:
Only three times the national average salary.
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And it wouldn't be quite so bad if they didn't keep awarding themselves outrageous pay rises and had long holiday's when a lot of the work force struggle to get 1 or 2%
and 20 days holiday
 
rjbell said:
Only three times the national average salary.
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True or three times more than a family on benefits ;) , next jump would be cabinet minister and prime minister. For the hours, the publicity, how easy it is to mess up and get booted out, I wouldn't do the job for money. I don't think comparing to national average salary makes sense as there is nothing average about the job.
 
dejongj said:
True or three times more than a family on benefits ;)
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Really? I think I'd better start a family, ( or two ;) ) and go on benefits, I'll be quids it (y)
 
dejongj said:
True or three times more than a family on benefits ;) , next jump would be cabinet minister and prime minister. For the hours, the publicity, how easy it is to mess up and get booted out, I wouldn't do the job for money. I don't think comparing to national average salary makes sense as there is nothing average about the job.
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Though it's interesting to note that in the 1970's it was set around 1.6x the average working household income.

And if it was all about the salary, it looks fairly poor, but back to the original point of the post and some of them are drawing sums that are very attractive.
 
Cobra said:
Really? I think I'd better start a family, ( or two ;) ) and go on benefits, I'll be quids it (y)
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And dare I say, keep them abroad. That way you'll be even better off ;)

Phil V said:
Though it's interesting to note that in the 1970's it was set around 1.6x the average working household income.

And if it was all about the salary, it looks fairly poor, but back to the original point of the post and some of them are drawing sums that are very attractive.
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Fair point, I think it is good they've recognised that the people doing such an important job in a very expensive city needs to be paid more. And unfortunately I don't think it is enough to attract the best.
 
dejongj said:
Fair point, I think it is good they've recognised that the people doing such an important job in a very expensive city needs to be paid more. And unfortunately I don't think it is enough to attract the best.
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We agree that they're not massively overpaid, but should the salary be raised to attract 'the best'? How good do they need to be to do the job well?
 
Phil V said:
We agree that they're not massively overpaid, but should the salary be raised to attract 'the best'? How good do they need to be to do the job well?
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Better than the current ones. Muppets like the one linked in this one who thinks it is ok and normal to add children living costs to your works expenses aren't fit to serve the public. And that is across all parties. I would like to see a variable rate, but there are a number of people, likewise in the councils who are earning well above their potential in any private role and are severely out of their depth. Unfortunately they are elected posts, but I think they should reflect a good market pay such that a calibre of people can afford to take such a job that they just can't afford to do currently...
 
It's not just about the money either. MPs (well, politicians in general) get treated rather poorly by the press and public.
Most people assume that they're all crooked and on the take (whereas the truth is quite far from that), they are subject to ridicule and abuse and a (to me) intolerable level of intrusion into the lives of their friends and family.
Compare that to being a GP, dentist, head teacher etc which command similar or greater salaries.

It strikes me as a pretty terrible job, which is why it's no wonder it attracts it's fair share of people doing it for the wrong reasons.
 
Llamaman said:
It's not just about the money either. MPs (well, politicians in general) get treated rather poorly by the press and public.
Most people assume that they're all crooked and on the take (whereas the truth is quite far from that), they are subject to ridicule and abuse and a (to me) intolerable level of intrusion into the lives of their friends and family.
Compare that to being a GP, dentist, head teacher etc which command similar or greater salaries.

It strikes me as a pretty terrible job, which is why it's no wonder it attracts it's fair share of people doing it for the wrong reasons.
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Maybe they are doing it because they can't do a real job.


:D
 
kendo1 said:
Maybe they are doing it because they can't do a real job.

:D
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That's one of the 'wrong reasons', along with;
1. Have pots of cash from Daddy's trust fund and thought it would be fun.
2. Power. POWER! Mwahahahahahaha.
3. Kaching! Just leave the brown envelope inside the newspaper in case any paps are around.
 
To be fair, some, if not most, are very capable, intelligent and honest people and believe they are doing the right thing for their electorate.
 
kendo1 said:
To be fair, some, if not most, are very capable, intelligent and honest people and believe they are doing the right thing for their electorate.
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Interesting you say that. I met a few MPs in my working life and I'd say that a couple seemed reasonably competent but the majority were clearly out of their depth. On the other hand, my constituency MPs have always been helpful when I've contacted them.
 
Sejanus Aelianus said:
Interesting you say that. I met a few MPs in my working life and I'd say that a couple seemed reasonably competent but the majority were clearly out of their depth. On the other hand, my constituency MPs have always been helpful when I've contacted them.
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Funny you should say that.
The first MP I met was in Westminster in the late 70's. He was a family friend of my girlfriend's girlfriend :confused: - we'll call her 'Ann' :)
We were taken out for dinner in his Jensen Interceptor after being shown around Westminster, and stayed in his flat. He was married but spent the night with Ann.
We found out from Ann that everything was on expenses/allowances- dinner, wine, the flat, transport etc.

I suspect nothing has changed.
 
dejongj said:
And dare I say, keep them abroad. That way you'll be even better off ;)
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I'm making notes (y)
The retirement "plan" is almost formulated :D
 
Steep said:
And for some of them working probably three times the average hours.
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That, and as above, I'd like my MP to be smarter than average too.

So how much do people earn who work very hard and are much brighter than average? I'd expect it's somewhere between £80k and £200k, so our MP's fall into that category.
 
kendo1 said:
Funny you should say that.
The first MP I met was in Westminster in the late 70's. He was a family friend of my girlfriend's girlfriend :confused: - we'll call her 'Ann' :)
We were taken out for dinner in his Jensen Interceptor after being shown around Westminster, and stayed in his flat. He was married but spent the night with Ann.
We found out from Ann that everything was on expenses/allowances- dinner, wine, the flat, transport etc.

I suspect nothing has changed.
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I'm confident that used to happen indeed. These days it is a bit different. Anecdotally, a few years back I booked my parking space at a prime westminster central government department. I was on time for my meeting, but was held up for about 30 minutes at security. I got out of my car and walked to the gatehouse past the three cars in front to have a chat and see whats happening. They politely pointed out to me that a minister was at the front of the queue in the old banger (no other description required really) and was awaiting clearance and an allocated parking space as he was unannounced. No fancy Jensen Interceptors or anything like that...Just a hard working individual trying to do his job.
 
Was it John Major in Edwina Currie?
 
Phil V said:
That, and as above, I'd like my MP to be smarter than average too.

So how much do people earn who work very hard and are much brighter than average? I'd expect it's somewhere between £80k and £200k, so our MP's fall into that category.
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Well that's assuming that paying that well has got us smarter MPs :)

However yes in comparison to senior managers/executives they are not paid excessively, but they're paid too much also.
 
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