General Chat

One way or another they rip us off.



MPs could be in line for a pay rise of £40,000MPs could be in line for a pay rise of about £40,000 a year in return for scrapping their controversial second homes allowance, it has been claimed.
The top-up to MPs' current £61,820 salary would be worth about £24,000 after tax - approximately matching the maximum claim under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) this year.
The move, one of three options to be put before MPs by an internal review of parliamentary expenses headed by Commons Speaker Michael Martin, would effectively remove the onus on MPs' to justify their expenses claims and hand extra cash to those who do not currently claim the full amount.
The typical MP would be £4,500 a year better off as the average claim under ACA is £19,500.

I'm going to become an MP then.................nope too honest for that!!

Do none of them live in the real world????

No ivory towers

It makes me sick McB, the rest of us are struggling to pay our bills and keep afloat and they ' award' themselves this amount.!!

~~ to Kitty,

Caz xxx

Morning caz, iv'e got gas & leccy bills sitting on the top in the kitchen, to scared to open them, everythings in this month, house contents, house ins to name just a couple, i'm sure i'm not alone but my outgoings are more than my earnings every month now, have to dip into savings & this can only go on for so long.

~~~~~~~~~waves back to Caz:))

We have no savings left................and I know the feelings re bills:((

You have my every sympathy Brian and Kitty...We have just had to have a gas meter fitted because we simply couldnt afford the bill. I work, Graeme has 2 jobs and still there is no money left for holidays etc,We have a 14 year old car and things are pretty grim.

The price of running a home and family has become unsustainable,

Caz xx

We all have to make a stand, question is,







HOW ?

I agree Brian, need to have a think on this one!!

Caz xx

We have the added burden of my husband being self-employed, so his operations this year have lost us 12 weeks wages.................not funny!!

The bank have been really good though as we have told them beforehand that he wouldn't be earning for those weeks.

He is better now and that's really all that matters, we'll just have to knuckle down and work all the extra time we can to play catch-up again.

Been there before and we survived:))

No credit crunch for them then !!!

AND one of the slimey little s*ds had the cheek to tell people to *cheer up* the other day.!!!!

The sooner this lot go the better. They are a disgrace......if we are suffering because of their poor policies then they should be pulling in THEIR belts too. xx

Labour................new or old always tax and spend, new name, same old policies:(

I agree Muffs, we are worse off than we have ever been. Ive never voted labour and never will,

Caz xx

Totally agree with you both Cazzles and Kitty xx

Thing is, it doesn't matter what party's in, there all tared with the same brush.

But at least whoever gets in next will start off on the right foot......................won't they???

*worries*

I don't blame the government for every little thing, but taxing us until we are dry, then sitting back and feathering their own nests is dreadful.

I like Ritas idea, they give themselves pay rises like that when young people are dying for not a lot of money. Its sick. I feel we are heading for a big crash,

Caz xx

it should be a criminal offence not to vote - think it is in some countries - the apathy of some people in the UK is very puzzling - at least if you voted you have a right to complain - if you don't,, then keep mum!!

I haven't looked at the numbers in detail, but the package is unlikely to cost the tax payer any more and might even result in MP's paying some more personal tax than they do now, as I suspect their allowances are paid tax free at the moment.

The figures are scandalous though and MP's need to set an example by capping their income the same as Darling expects the rest of us to do. It is the fact they get paid to have a second home that has taken all of us by surprise as it has been a well guarded secret till now.

As far as class is concerned, don't you think that Nu Labour is even more "Middle Class", than the Conservatives ever were? You can count the number of Left wing Nu lab MP's on one hand.

John Prescot, soon to retire, Frank Field, Glenda Jackson perhaps? Struggling now to think of any more.

Bit Devil's Advocate here but we do expect MPs to have a base in the constituency they represent and they also need to spend a lot of time in London. I'd imagine that it is probably cheaper to pay them a second home allowance than it might be to pay for them to stay in hotels in one of those places.

I just found this
http://www.parliament.uk/faq/members_faq_page2.cfm

I suppose if you compare the salaries of our MPs with similar jobs abroad perhaps ours are not as well paid. Also remember the MPs include the opposition members as well as the government so any pay rise wouldn't just be for the ruling party.

I do agree it is unfortunate timing when so many people are facing a struggle to pay fuel bills etc but maybe compared to jobs in the City or in upper management of large firms, an MPs salary seems less.

It's all comparative really. For those of us living on a lot less, 60 thousand sounds a very large amount of money but I suppose it needs to be compared with jobs of similar responsibilities.

A salary of 60 grand or so isn't going to encourage any high powered business men to want to become MPs and a number of other responsible jobs are paid a lot more.

I'm not sure really.......I think I'd need to know a lot more about the subject before making up my mind.
I think if you do the sums then the total salaries of all our MPs divided by all the people in the country doesn't amount to much per head of population.

Perhaps we should pay more?..........if you pay peanuts you get monkeys!

Sue (still undecided!)