NFR How do they justify this?t

[Peabody]

Tell me, how do our MPs justify a 10 per cent rise in their pay?

[Rupert]

Tell me, how do our MPs justify a 10 per cent rise in their pay?

Quite briefly, I imagine, then move on to something more important like the terrorist threat or anything else that will take our attention away from them.

[blingo]

By suggesting they put in for 20% but have done us all a favour in settling for 10%.

[fulhams_finest]

Tell me, how do our MPs justify a 10 per cent rise in their pay?

technically they didn't - the independent parliamentary standards authority did, and they are also taking a cut in their pensions from what I've read

[Jack Fulham]

More chicken feed for Boris.

Must be nice for Mhairi Black, can't be too many 20 year olds on 70k + a year.

[westcliff white]

some are objecting to the rise as well is what i am reading

[snarks]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

[Logicalman]

The basic story being put out is that rather than an income increase, this is simply a re-organization of income from expenses and other gravy-train claims into basic pay, and it won't actually charge the public purse more.

All sounds good on the face of it, but when you read what those 'expenses' are, then it brings up more questions. One of them is 'evening meals'. OK, we all know they have to work 'overtime' into the evenings at times, and that some do have to actually eat, but if they are looking at the few that actually do attend evening sessions, and spreading that across the 90% that don't, then simply enough, those 90% ARE getting a pay rise for doing nothing more, and only those that attend the evening sessions are getting nothing at all.

Whether or not they are paid enough, it might have been a little better had the IPSA spread this over 2 or 3 years with 3-5% increases, as many people will only read the headline and assume there has been no quid-pro-quo.

[Logicalman]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

... but the fully Qualified Nurses, Firemen & Coppers earn a third of that, and not for sitting in a/c offices, but treating injuries, dealing with Fri/Sat night violence in ERs, fighting fires and crime, and they are public sector workers also.

[westcliff white]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

... but the fully Qualified Nurses, Firemen & Coppers earn a third of that, and not for sitting in a/c offices, but treating injuries, dealing with Fri/Sat night violence in ERs, fighting fires and crime, and they are public sector workers also.

Fair point (although the coppers can whistle as far as I am concerned) but it isnt as if they asked for it isnt it a board that says this is what it should be? I read on the beeb that Cameron doesn't want to accept it.

[Logicalman]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

... but the fully Qualified Nurses, Firemen & Coppers earn a third of that, and not for sitting in a/c offices, but treating injuries, dealing with Fri/Sat night violence in ERs, fighting fires and crime, and they are public sector workers also.

Fair point (although the coppers can whistle as far as I am concerned) but it isnt as if they asked for it isnt it a board that says this is what it should be? I read on the beeb that Cameron doesn't want to accept it.

Yep, it's the IPSA that decides the raise or not, a little like one of the coaching staff at the club deciding on Players wages.

You've gotta love the IPSA 'about us':
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is the body created by Parliament to independently oversee and regulate MPs' business costs and expenses.
IPSA was created in 2009 by the Parliamentary Standards Act. New rules governing MPs' expenses were introduced on 7 May 2010, immediately following the election by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. IPSA has two main roles: we regulate the expenses system and we administer and pay MPs' expenses and their salaries.
Parliament subsequently passed legislation creating a Compliance Officer for IPSA and giving us responsibility for determining MPs' pay and pensions.
Our rules are a clean break from the old system of allowances. The new rules are fair (to MPs and the public purse), workable and transparent. We subject all expense claims to rigorous verification and auditing.
We have clear processes enabling MPs to request reviews of our decisions, and members of the public can contact the Compliance Officer if they have concerns about a claim.
IPSA is independent of parliament, government and of political parties. In everything we do, we focus on our main duty; to serve the interests of the public.

I think House of cards was closer to reality than the IPSA garbage above. When it really is transparent, it might sway some more people into believing.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

Yes, all those dinner ladies, street cleaners, refuse men, swimming pool attendants, librarians and teachers earning £70k plus per year.

[Rupert]

...the coppers can whistle as far as I am concerned...

I like the way you think. It made me laugh when the local cops wanted to up our council tax to give them more money, we had a vote and they were crushed. They can't get their thick skulls round the fact that they have long since lost the trust of many of the public.

[snarks]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

Yes, all those dinner ladies, street cleaners, refuse men, swimming pool attendants, librarians and teachers earning £70k plus per year.

Yes I know some are not paid that much, but over 800 civil servants are (more than the number of MP's), over 2000 local authority employees, and according to the BBC in 2010 more than 9000 in public sector emplyment earned more than the prime minister (who was then on £142K).

Oh and approximately 900 Head Teachers earned over £100K last year, no that's not a huge percentage, but it shows what they can get

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

Yes, all those dinner ladies, street cleaners, refuse men, swimming pool attendants, librarians and teachers earning £70k plus per year.

Yes I know some are not paid that much, but over 800 civil servants are (more than the number of MP's), over 2000 local authority employees, and according to the BBC in 2010 more than 9000 in public sector emplyment earned more than the prime minister (who was then on £142K).

Oh and approximately 900 Head Teachers earned over £100K last year, no that's not a huge percentage, but it shows what they can get

. . . and every player in a Premier League or Championship squad.

How many people outside the State sector earn more than £70k or £142k?

[Peabody]

I fully understand the arguements justifying this pay rise, I also understand that the decision is made by a so called independent pay review body but how many times do we see the chamber with less than twenty members in attendance? OK they maybe doing other things but this hardly gives the right impression to their constituents.

Only last week, they seemed chuffed to NAAfFFI breaks when the Chancellor announced a one per cent pay rise for the next fours years for Public Sector Workers.

[nose]

I believe MPs and politicians are massively UNDERPAYED and hence the old adage
pay peanuts get monkeys is true.

I have no problem with the pay rise and hope it encourages a better quality candidate

[snarks]

£70K a year isn't that great for what they are supposed to do. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of civil servants/local authority employees etc that earn more.

However it's the expenses claims where mp's still take the p**s. I'd be happier if they were paid £120k but given no expenses at all, and forbidden from employing family.

Yes, all those dinner ladies, street cleaners, refuse men, swimming pool attendants, librarians and teachers earning £70k plus per year.

Yes I know some are not paid that much, but over 800 civil servants are (more than the number of MP's), over 2000 local authority employees, and according to the BBC in 2010 more than 9000 in public sector emplyment earned more than the prime minister (who was then on £142K).

Oh and approximately 900 Head Teachers earned over £100K last year, no that's not a huge percentage, but it shows what they can get

. . . and every player in a Premier League or Championship squad.

How many people outside the State sector earn more than £70k or £142k?

Hang on ... let me google that for you.. :005:

BBC in 2010 says (it also bumps the number of state employees up to 38k)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11382591

Wiki puts it at about 400,000 taxpayers

[alfie]

...the coppers can whistle as far as I am concerned...

I like the way you think. It made me laugh when the local cops wanted to up our council tax to give them more money, we had a vote and they were crushed. They can't get their thick skulls round the fact that they have long since lost the trust of many of the public.

Couple of friends of mine are coppers, they are decent blokes and work bloody hard, one of them had a gun stuck in his face, I am sure you don't have that problem with whatever you do.

[Rupert]

...the coppers can whistle as far as I am concerned...

I like the way you think. It made me laugh when the local cops wanted to up our council tax to give them more money, we had a vote and they were crushed. They can't get their thick skulls round the fact that they have long since lost the trust of many of the public.

Couple of friends of mine are coppers, they are decent blokes and work bloody hard, one of them had a gun stuck in his face, I am sure you don't have that problem with whatever you do.

A couple of my friends are coppers too, as are a couple of relatives, and they fully appreciate where I am coming from. It isn't the decent ones who are the problem.