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How much should MPs be paid?
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Yes, that George Osborne type.....we need some Bus Drivers to run the economy ..... are you sure?
I do think a lot of silly comments are coming out.
I love rich people.....we all should.
Pay lots of tax, even with loop holes, they pay lots!
If we where all on average wages then the country would really be up shxt creek without a paddle!
Are you serious? Would you take a paycut of over £100K to £35K?
Chief executives in Local Government got upwards of £140K, do you really think that an MP should be on less than half of that?
You are not going to attract the people without private interests of the calibre that is required unless you pay a decent wage.
We are going to continue with scandals and divided interests until we pay them a good wage.
Could not have put it better myself. I agree with every word you say. :T
There are simply not enough "rich" people/corperations in the country to shakedown to pay for all the "poor/average" people. Hence, why average people need to be taxed as well.
We need MP`s to make a difficult balance that will not please a significant percentage of the population - and to do this we need to attract the best people for job. Right now an MP's salary is less than a head teacher, half that of a GP, significantly less than a solicitor.
If you were one of these professionals, why the heck would you want to take a significant pay cut to become an MP? The current wage simply means that an unproportionate number of Rich Etonians with family connections to politics are MP`s (as they dont have to worry so much about careers/ feeding the family).
Riase the MP`s wage and attract the best business leaders / civil servents to parliment.
I don't earn £35k, so it wouldn't be a £100k pay cut.
And I was replying to a post saying we need to attract "teachers, bus drivers, people who know about normal life in the UK". I don't see how a salary of £35k would put these people off.
Maybe if some of the bankers and business people were put off then there would be more chance of getting "ordinary" people into parliament.
Note that what I am suggesting is far from the idea of paying them nothing, or paying them a wage that isn't livable. Under those circumstances a bus driver, say, wouldn't be able to afford to do it. But by paying the same as an average teacher [plus genuine out of pocket expenses] most people would be able to afford to do it.
I never said that I thought MPs were the _only_ people who are paid too much.
If the above is true, it seems to me that there are a lot of 'monkeys' working in our hospitals, care homes, schools and so on. I don't think it would do any harm at all for MPs to experience what it's like to try and live on the average wage. They could do with a reality check. Maybe they'd be more keen, then, to stop big companies avoiding paying tax. They might even be a bit more concerned to deal with obscene bonuses and other forms of wanton largesse which keeps all us 'monkeys' on peanut wages.
But maybe thats why they are bus drivers and teachers - as they dont want to stress of a more senior position.
If they are not motivated or do not have the ability to become senior in their own profession then do we really want someone like that running the country? You cannot clock off at 5pm...
The average wage is approx £26k a year.
Doctors earn upto £100k, Head teachers £75k, experienced teachers £40k. Senior nurses £35k
If you are motivated and work hard and move up in your role you can get the best pay and benefits in any sector.
If you are a junior worker and sit on your back side for 20 years and dont better yourself and expect a high salary - then yes you are a monkey.