If you had any doubts about the madness that is infecting the UK, today, this week's events in Parliament should provide clarity.
At the start of the week, the Labour party (joined by some Lib Dem malcontents) opposed the Coalition's proposal to limit welfare benefit handout increases to 1% over the next three years. Their opposition wasn't because they thought that benefits should be progressively cut in the same period, by say something like 10% per year.
Oh no! The opposition was that they felt this would hurt the poor and hard-working families.
For those unfamiliar with the stupidities of the UK welfare system, the Socialists have developed and honed a process where the government impoverishes you by taking so much in taxes and National Insurance (Social Security) and then let's you apply to get some of your own money back as tax credits and other welfare handouts!
OK, so you might expect a Conservative-led Coalition to end this farce and leave money in the pockets of those that have earned it but that would be expecting too much. Two and a half years into a five year Parliament and nary a sign that common sense will surface.
Why? Well consider the following.
The week has ended with MPs suggesting that they should receive an average 32% increase in salary. There is no decimal point missing! You read it correctly - thirty two percent.
Consider this. The average salary in the UK is £26,500. Currently MPs receive a salary of more than £65,700 or 2 1/2 times the average. Now Conservatives want to take that to £96,740, the Lib Dems to £78,361 and Labour to £77,322.
Oh, and on top of their generous salary, they receive expenses to cover travel, offices and assistant's salaries, etc.
Is it any wonder that the finances of the UK government are in such an appalling state, when the economic incompetents that rule us have only one concern - their own pocket?
Many of these are the same MPs who had their greedy snouts so far into the trough that they must have been gagging on the expenses that they were fiddling. These are also the same MPs who are now pushing to muzzle a free press (including newspapers that exposed the MP expenses fiddling) - Would any writer ever dare to come up with such an unbelievable story-line?
And yes, you probably guessed it, they knew, when they put themselves forward for election, what the salary was, that was on offer. Ask yourself this, what chance of getting an increase would you have if, today, you went to your boss and said, I know we agreed the starting salary 2 1/2 years ago but now I want a 32% increase.
Any MP that votes in favour or even has the audacity to speak in favour of getting such an increase should have the courage to force an immediate by-election and put the matter, this single issue, to the public - the people who vote him/her into Parliament - and, just as importantly, those taxpayers that pay these high wages.
If these greedy, stupid, hypocritical and mendacious people can't survive on £65K then they should quit and go and find another job that appropriately rewards the talents and skills that they (alone) think they have! They should do it, today!
I do accept that many of those called for the resignation or firing of Stephen Hester indicated that they could do his job for a lot less than his £1 million pay packet. Of course that is largely complete twaddle. MPs though? They can be easily replaced - it isn't as if the job requires any particular skills - although lying, cheating and thieving doesn't come easy to everyone - just consider the backgrounds and experience of the shower currently sitting in Westminster - how are they more qualified than anyone else? How many of them have ever held down a real job or managed a business or department or any kind of budget?
This ruling elite is on a tax-payer funded gravy train , along with their mates in Euro-lalaland and just about all of them are at 'it' and serving only their own financial interests.
This is what the UK has come to!
At the start of the week, the Labour party (joined by some Lib Dem malcontents) opposed the Coalition's proposal to limit welfare benefit handout increases to 1% over the next three years. Their opposition wasn't because they thought that benefits should be progressively cut in the same period, by say something like 10% per year.
Oh no! The opposition was that they felt this would hurt the poor and hard-working families.
For those unfamiliar with the stupidities of the UK welfare system, the Socialists have developed and honed a process where the government impoverishes you by taking so much in taxes and National Insurance (Social Security) and then let's you apply to get some of your own money back as tax credits and other welfare handouts!
OK, so you might expect a Conservative-led Coalition to end this farce and leave money in the pockets of those that have earned it but that would be expecting too much. Two and a half years into a five year Parliament and nary a sign that common sense will surface.
Why? Well consider the following.
The week has ended with MPs suggesting that they should receive an average 32% increase in salary. There is no decimal point missing! You read it correctly - thirty two percent.
Consider this. The average salary in the UK is £26,500. Currently MPs receive a salary of more than £65,700 or 2 1/2 times the average. Now Conservatives want to take that to £96,740, the Lib Dems to £78,361 and Labour to £77,322.
Oh, and on top of their generous salary, they receive expenses to cover travel, offices and assistant's salaries, etc.
Is it any wonder that the finances of the UK government are in such an appalling state, when the economic incompetents that rule us have only one concern - their own pocket?
Many of these are the same MPs who had their greedy snouts so far into the trough that they must have been gagging on the expenses that they were fiddling. These are also the same MPs who are now pushing to muzzle a free press (including newspapers that exposed the MP expenses fiddling) - Would any writer ever dare to come up with such an unbelievable story-line?
And yes, you probably guessed it, they knew, when they put themselves forward for election, what the salary was, that was on offer. Ask yourself this, what chance of getting an increase would you have if, today, you went to your boss and said, I know we agreed the starting salary 2 1/2 years ago but now I want a 32% increase.
Any MP that votes in favour or even has the audacity to speak in favour of getting such an increase should have the courage to force an immediate by-election and put the matter, this single issue, to the public - the people who vote him/her into Parliament - and, just as importantly, those taxpayers that pay these high wages.
If these greedy, stupid, hypocritical and mendacious people can't survive on £65K then they should quit and go and find another job that appropriately rewards the talents and skills that they (alone) think they have! They should do it, today!
I do accept that many of those called for the resignation or firing of Stephen Hester indicated that they could do his job for a lot less than his £1 million pay packet. Of course that is largely complete twaddle. MPs though? They can be easily replaced - it isn't as if the job requires any particular skills - although lying, cheating and thieving doesn't come easy to everyone - just consider the backgrounds and experience of the shower currently sitting in Westminster - how are they more qualified than anyone else? How many of them have ever held down a real job or managed a business or department or any kind of budget?
This ruling elite is on a tax-payer funded gravy train , along with their mates in Euro-lalaland and just about all of them are at 'it' and serving only their own financial interests.
This is what the UK has come to!
I don’t believe the pay increase will go through as no MP looking to get re-elected will dare anger their constituency. I do agree with you that issue on MP salaries is scandalous however I believe they are scandalously low. A salary of under £100k is ordinary by normal standards, although well above the national average. However, I want my MP to be extraordinary. They should possess excellent leadership skills, be insightful, highly intelligent and well qualified, business/worldly/economically savvy, be willing to take difficult and unpopular decisions rather than populist ones. We face extremely challenging times and we need to attract the best people as our MPs. A salary of less than £100k isn’t going to attract the types of people we need to lead us. Alas, I’m a realist so I doubt we’ll change any time soon so we’re stuck with a largely ineffective bunch of MPs.
ReplyDeleteInstitutional theory posits that poor quality political institutions lead to low quality economic insitutions. Judging by the state of our many financial institutions this theory could be proved right.
Question is, do we get poor quality MPs because we pay them 'low salaries' or is it that this is all they are worth? Firstly, the salary is more than 2 times the national average - pay them much more and they will just get further out of touch with the people that they are supposed to be representing. Then, they know the salary when they put themselves up for election. Far too many of them have no 'real world' experience. Being a union rep or a lobbyist or a City banker doesn't, in my view, give much in the way of experience in how things work outside of those particular 'bubbles' - paying them ever more high salaries puts them further away from reality.
DeleteThere might actually be an argument for putting them on the National Average Wage - that might be an incentive to get this increased or to get taxes down so that folks keep more of it!
I don't think you can pay them as on a par with folks in the business world as they do not have the same pressures or imperatives (frankly, I feel the same about managers in public services such as NHS, BBC and local government and QUANGOs).
As a final point, I understand that some (all?) Labour MPs donate or tithe a portion of their salary to the party. That would very much suggest that they don't need an increase! And there is no way we should be funding political parties from the public purse - no way!