Our politicians are lowest paid in EU. In this day and age, £67k is minacious, not bonanza. Even illiterate, thumb-print footballers earn more weekly, are multimillionaire unable to handle their wealth.
Doctors, Consultants, administrators earn more than MPs. TFL just announced they employ 400 consultants earning over £100k. Most MPs have given up their cushy city jobs earning six figure salaries to enter politics. Theirs is not five day a week job, attending HOC. Most work seven days a week. As I have worked closely with MP, I know from personal experience how their work takes over their lives, even driving so many to drinks. LibDem MP Charles Kennedy lost his life due to drinks.
Many MPs come from privileged background, out of touch with reality. But there are MPs, whose sole income is their salaries, running two homes, raising young family. At one time MPs used to give themselves pay-rise but now it is decided by an independent body whose recommendations should be honoured.
MPs should be the cream of society, as they shape a nation’s destiny. It is emotional blackmail to compare their pay with nurses, manual workers and till girls in supermarkets. How the mighty have fallen due to naivety and fickleness of our politicians who live in fool’s paradise!
Bhupendra M. Gandhi
By email
