MPs should feel the pinch too

Posted by Greg McDonald

Gordon Brown is right to reject an above-inflation pay rise for himself and fellow MPs and to insist that Westminster salary increases be limited to 1.9% this year.

The PM is not only right in principle either: as the rest of the public sector is asked to show discipline, Brown’s rejection of the Senior Salaries Review Body’s recommended 2.8% hike is economically right, sound long-term vision, and prudent politics – something gloomy Gordon does beamingly well.

Of course it’s not enough – Britain’s democracy remains in need of a major overhaul, with proportional representation, an elected second chamber, and MPs paid the average national wage – but credit where it’s due.

Indeed, as the Brown Bounceback continues, this miserly approach to public sector pay typifies the PM’s prudent approach to politics as a whole. Brown’s aim is long-term stability and security, and whatever we might think of individual measures, two things should be acknowledged: there’s no denying the political courage of taking on the police over pay, and, after years of Blairite flashy initiatives, we must surely be glad of a fresh era of long-term prioritising.

“In future years, we will do better by the police, nurses and teachers, we will do better by the army,” Brown says. Today’s rejection of a pay rise is a step along that road.

Comments

[stephen gomersall]

what really grates at me is how powerless some of us mere mortals feel about the in flux of foreign {persons}expecting something out of this country.
not so long ago we had 2 million unemployed putting a strain on the dhss have they just vanished {no just reclassified}????
its about time british politicians started looking after us for a change.
also why is there so much money waiting for a certain
african country when the nhs,
local services,dhss,etc,etc is under so much pressure
just shows who is more important???????????????
lets not be so naive whichever
party is in power its not a bad screw is it really?????

[fd]

what somebody put about us having so many MP's i would just like to say that the american equivilant is a congressman/women and the americans have 435 plus there 100 senators as well but i see what they mean 646 MP's does seem a little over the top for a small country as ares. the only two reasons i could think for this was either to stop MP's having to much power or so that you can properly hear the strange grunts and jeers that they calling cheering on your tv if you watch that sort of thing however what they said about the EU i think thats a bad thing and i would gladly give the MP's a payrise than let the EU have anymore power over are country sort of the lesser of two evils. but ive got to say my grandfather was an MP and representative of the miners up north during the 70's or 80's and he was labour and i sad to say this but i think conseravtive have got the right idea and should replaced the labour party

[Steven Preston, Wakefield]

Who voted for you Brownand Labour?
Well no one did, You see i work behind the scenes in Government and The only party that received the most votes in were the BNP.
But some of people that voted them in ie:-The Police, NHS,The Highways Agencies and Most council members and any government employee were threatend that they would not only lose their jobs but their pensions if they were seen to be voting for the BNP.
And you thought this was a Democratic Country.
Also if the public do not vote this is seen by the "System" As the non-voter are happy with the current party.
So Hang this Spineless Fraudulent Government and vote Against LABOUR next time.

[Steven Preston ,Wakefield]

What a load of RUBBISH and lies.Corrupt Brown and his cronies have the Cheek and Audacity to pretend he has the Countries interest at heart when he employes incompetent scum he surrounds himself with when the average salary of an MP is around £63000.00 and thats without the £100,000.00 back handers these parasites receive from Businessmen wanting "Honours" and tax exemptions, And what do poor old taxpayers who put theirselves at risk everyday in Labours race hate and criminal incited society earn..oh an average wage of between £14000 to £25000 a year..Vote for me and i Promise i will turn Britain into GREAT BRITAIN..and my Blueprint will be based on Adolph Hitlers devotion to the Contributor of this planet and not the Parasite!!

[Kev]

Neither mind Britain, the goverment taking an interest in England would be nice.

[james Buggy]

Why, do we as pensioners need to be governed by a load of liars in goverment as they will and have done oth labour and tories feather their own nest before they get to pensionable age elected by us isnt it about time we got wise and stop voting for these greedy self rightous lags, as they are no better than criminals, get wise pensioners and get them out, we have the power (the vote)they are suppose to represent the country "what Country" Germany Spain France or us britain

[Jim]

Yes, the PM is right to restrain MP's pay. To have done otherwise would have opened the flood gates. Probably it is too little too late. The country is in much too much debt, both nationally and individually and it looks like the reckoning is just around the corner. I was brought up with the beleif that it was stupid to borrow unless absolutely necessary. Lenders are not philanthropists!

[Kev]

I think this token gesture by Brown is far to late, the country is going to hell more so than ever before. What with the politically correct fascist brigade/liberals spending our cash on whatever they want, and greedy self serving b*stards in power, we've got no chance.

[Bruno]

Our dear Mr. Brown patronises the public by suggesting that his actions are positive and good for the country. This repeated stress on the positive is quaint.Is someone relying on the power of suggestions ? Does he think that he is addressing peasants?

[Bill]

Welcome to the land of Stepford, where MPs can vote for their own pay rise,and have the power to control those of us in the public sector,who are struggling to get by on pittance, being taxed ad infinitum. Our Lord and Master, who has cotrolled our purse strings for the past ten years, is now trying to exhibit kind gestures by the provision of screenings, etc; after he has severed funding for a lot of services. Is it fair to expect the sick and the elderly to suffer and to be penalised, after they have contributed to this system for the best years of their lives ? Only cowards will target the sick and the elderly, who cannot defend themselves. The Govt. must think that we, the public are blind, and can be fooled. Look at the price of petrol. Ask the big question, how much goes into the treasury, and are our roads any safer ?

[ken]

these bone idle bastards need to get their snouts out the trough. what a cheek that they can vote their own pay rises anyway and then have the nerve to tell everyone else to tighten their belts.
i have always said, if they think what they do is tough, they have not got a clue, and should resign and let someone else do it who is prepared to be an mp for less money, i for one would certainly do it for less money.
mp's and councillors should be payed a decent every day wage and do the job for love of the country.
having had my say, i cannot believe this country has allowed itself to be governed by these bumbling corrupt selfish idiots for the last ten years or more, thank god we'll see the back of them eventually, not too long i hope.
i remember the last time they were in power and brought this country to its knees.

[Bob]

Jim lad , we can see exactly what this gammy jawed tw*t is trying to do .... Displace us.

[Stan]

MPs should have their salaries reduced not increased. 80% of our laws are now made by the EU Commission and not by our MPs so they have less work to do now than in the past. Take a look at any of the TV broadcasts of Parliament and see how many of them bother to turn up at their place of work! Apart from PMQs the House is always nearly empty. My own MP is hardly ever there because he's at work on his other well paid job as a dentist. If they want more money then they should support UKIP and get us out of the EU so that they can go back to running our Country.

[Peter Unsworth]

When is Brown going to stop talking about percentage rises, when we know this only widens the gap between the rich and poor. 1% of 56000 is more than 2% of 25000. so why not give all of us including pensioners the same ammout

[Jim Hughes]

If the whingers, scroungers and bone idle can't see what Brown is trying to achieve in this still great country they should sod off and make more room for the real workers, the Eastern Europeans.

Jim H

[Alan Davidson]

Gordon Brown much like Tony Blair and his extreme Marxist predecessors are intent on bringing this country fully to its knees, if the British people had any true grit left in them we would get together drag him out of office and hang him in the street, that will send out a message and route out the rot in this god forsaken place. Look where we are now, even if you are in your little comfort bubble or Ivory Tower, take a true look at what is happening and see if you still think that Gordon Brown is worthy of life.

[Malcolm Nicholls]

Are we all that dumb as to think that the 1.9% pay rise the MP's will probably vote yes to is what they will really get. They will also get increased allowances so that at the end of the day they will have their 10% and their is nothing anyone can do about it. I know it is a lot to ask for but lets have honesty in politics because the way we are going we will end up like having leaders who no one trusts and there is sod all that we will be able to do about it.

[Mike]

Brown is on the sweetly smiling sickly grinning campaign again shaking hands with the NHS telling us there are going to be big changes ahead
and we all will forget the past six months of incompetance.I wonder if he will accept a pay increase of 1.9% of course he wont.
Anyway the longer he stays in
the bigger the hole will get
He is now accusing the Torys
of stealing their ideas.
He has stolen other peoples ideas for the past ten years
because he is bereft of any himself

[James Buchanan]

1.9% of a ministers excessive salary and 1.9% of a pensioners pittance is a big difference but the price of a loaf is the same for the both of them
so who is better off with 1.9%

[Chris]

Pigs at the trough or pigs might fly both activities apply to this bunch of jesters.In many other countries, in relative terms, there would have been serious social unrest by now after 10 years of utter lies,bad management,and sheer unabashed cronyism.

[kenton brown]

people have very short memories every time labour are in power they bring the country to its knees they are all pigs wallowing in their troughs paid for by us.

[Bob]

New labour , same old **ite.
The tory boys are no better.
Time for a radical change , vote Nationalist to put the Great back into Great Britain before we are a minority .

[Mike T]

Bottler and the blogger obviously think the public are stupid. Most of us understand very well that what Bottler actually said to MPs in Labour-speak was "Vote for 1.9% and claim an extra 10 grand on your expenses".

[Barry]

Members of Parliament should recognise the need for setting an example and any award which exceeds 1.9% would be setting a bad example. Brown is always in the jam tomorrow mode, I think he is out of touch with the reality of what the avarage person has to live on , MPs in general enjoy a pay package which does not bring financial pressure to bear on them like it does with other groups , not of course forgeting the pensioners pensioners in paricular. 2008 will see the effect of 10 years of Brown's mismanagement of the economy, we have been living a lie in a fools paradise, it has to come home to roost before too long.

Pretty simple to me. Why has the UK got twice as many MPs than the USA has Senators'. When you consider the size of the USA in comparison to the UK the figures do not add up The EU is now undertaking more of the day to day running of the UK and Europe.
Parliament should be stream lined with at most 200
MPs and a severe reductions of their expenses.

[Michael]

Very few MP's are worth the salary they are paid - they do not deserve a pay rise!!

[Jim]

These various review bodies were originally set up to ensure complete impartiality in the awards of public sector pay - whether for police, nurses, army, judges, senior staff etc. and to ensure that those staff who could not use industrial action to further their cause would be given fair settlements. The intention was that there could be no political interference in the awards that the review bodies made, and that the awards would reflect compatibility with the private sector. What is the point of having such bodies if the government of the day is simply going to ignore the awards and dole out what they want anyway? If the Government is now reneging on its promised review systems, then all such staff should have their full employment rights returned to them. It will be interesting to see which way the vote goes in the Commons.

[Equilibrium]

Don't be taken in by this rubbish. Brown is as devious as Blair in his own way, and master of the stealth tax, and adept at burying bad news. He is desperate for the positive headlines of restraint, but look deeper and you will probably find that MP's 'expenses' have been increased by ten per cent.

[roger hart]

What a load of bull manure..straight from Labour party HQ...anyone believing this claptrap have obviously believed the Blairfaced lies of the past 10 years...Like New Labour somethings never change..lies spin, distortion.. etc etc