MPs' Pay
The BBC reports today that MPs are to get a pay rise of nearly £1,000 a year - taking the basic salary of a backbench MP (from 1 April) to £65,737 a year.
The BBC report says - with typical understatement - that the 1.5% increase follows uproar over the MPs' expenses scandal.
The government says that ministers will turn down the rise - but what does this matter since the increase will flow through to staffing and other allowances - and crucially into MPs' 'gold plated' pensions.
So, at a time when many workers in the private sector - have had to accept cuts in hours and pay to keep their businesses afloat - MPs are to benefit from a 1.5% pay rise.
Similarly, workers in the public sector face a difficult period ahead - with employers arguing there there should be a pay freeze for the next two years - for all but the lowest paid workers.
MPs have failed to set and example - yet again.
So why doesn't the government should step in - and refuse to implement the increase - while the economy remains in such a state?
The BBC report says - with typical understatement - that the 1.5% increase follows uproar over the MPs' expenses scandal.
The government says that ministers will turn down the rise - but what does this matter since the increase will flow through to staffing and other allowances - and crucially into MPs' 'gold plated' pensions.
So, at a time when many workers in the private sector - have had to accept cuts in hours and pay to keep their businesses afloat - MPs are to benefit from a 1.5% pay rise.
Similarly, workers in the public sector face a difficult period ahead - with employers arguing there there should be a pay freeze for the next two years - for all but the lowest paid workers.
MPs have failed to set and example - yet again.
So why doesn't the government should step in - and refuse to implement the increase - while the economy remains in such a state?
