Give to the Needy
The newspapers reported recently on a crazy proposal from Lord Steel of Aikwood - aka David Steel - former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.
Lord Steel's idea is that peers sitting in the House of Lords should be offered a £30,000 tax free lump sum to retire - a 'golden goodbye' to assist the government's reform plans which aim to cut the number of peers from 788 to 300.
Now the crazy thing about this proposal is that many of the current crop of peers - like Lord Steel himself - have made a very good living out of the public purse.
Lord Steel - just like Lord John Prescott and many others too numerous to mention - have retired on very generous final salary pension schemes - at public expense.
So why in the world would they receive another inducement from the public purse - when they have been made financially secure for the rest of their lives?
Seems like no one does anything out of sense of duty these days - or gives up their time voluntarily.
I imagine if peers stopped getting their £300 per day attendance allowance - the place would empty faster than a sinking ship.
Lord Steel's idea is that peers sitting in the House of Lords should be offered a £30,000 tax free lump sum to retire - a 'golden goodbye' to assist the government's reform plans which aim to cut the number of peers from 788 to 300.
Now the crazy thing about this proposal is that many of the current crop of peers - like Lord Steel himself - have made a very good living out of the public purse.
Lord Steel - just like Lord John Prescott and many others too numerous to mention - have retired on very generous final salary pension schemes - at public expense.
So why in the world would they receive another inducement from the public purse - when they have been made financially secure for the rest of their lives?
Seems like no one does anything out of sense of duty these days - or gives up their time voluntarily.
I imagine if peers stopped getting their £300 per day attendance allowance - the place would empty faster than a sinking ship.
