Dear All
A lot of ordinary working people have had their pay frozen by their employers because of cuts to their budgets.
In a time of hardship, it isn’t nice to see that MPs will get a rise of nearly £1,000 in their basic salary from 1 April.
This raises their take home pay to £65,737 a year.
There is a genuine debate to be had on MPs pay; the public however doesn’t have the appetite to stomach rises when they can’t have one.
David Prentis of Unison puts it bluntly;
“Teaching assistants, school dinner ladies, social care workers, road sweepers will get nothing”.
Although the 1.5% increase is modest it follows on from the MPs' expenses scandal and the anger generated by it.
MPs used to vote on their pay but now recommendations by the Senior Salaries Review Body go through automatically, so much for checks and balances!
Because there is a General Election and Labour is mindful of the polls, Government Ministers will turn down the rise.
Cabinet ministers currently get an extra £79,754 per year, giving them a total salary of £144,520 plus expenses.
To put the situation in perspective the Local Government Association has said 1.4 million workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will get no rise as authorities try to protect front-line services and minimise job losses.
Not much comfort is it that your local MP is getting an extra grand when you have lost your job and can’t turn the heating on.
For many people, the choices this year is heat or eat!
As a sop the Tories have pledged a miserable 5% cut in ministerial salaries if they win the general election.
At a time when MPs are calling for people to tighten their belts it is shameful that they make speeches and seminars calling for lengthy pay restraint in the public sector.
A case of ‘do what I say not what I do’.
What ever happened to public service?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
A lot of ordinary working people have had their pay frozen by their employers because of cuts to their budgets.
In a time of hardship, it isn’t nice to see that MPs will get a rise of nearly £1,000 in their basic salary from 1 April.
This raises their take home pay to £65,737 a year.
There is a genuine debate to be had on MPs pay; the public however doesn’t have the appetite to stomach rises when they can’t have one.
David Prentis of Unison puts it bluntly;
“Teaching assistants, school dinner ladies, social care workers, road sweepers will get nothing”.
Although the 1.5% increase is modest it follows on from the MPs' expenses scandal and the anger generated by it.
MPs used to vote on their pay but now recommendations by the Senior Salaries Review Body go through automatically, so much for checks and balances!
Because there is a General Election and Labour is mindful of the polls, Government Ministers will turn down the rise.
Cabinet ministers currently get an extra £79,754 per year, giving them a total salary of £144,520 plus expenses.
To put the situation in perspective the Local Government Association has said 1.4 million workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will get no rise as authorities try to protect front-line services and minimise job losses.
Not much comfort is it that your local MP is getting an extra grand when you have lost your job and can’t turn the heating on.
For many people, the choices this year is heat or eat!
As a sop the Tories have pledged a miserable 5% cut in ministerial salaries if they win the general election.
At a time when MPs are calling for people to tighten their belts it is shameful that they make speeches and seminars calling for lengthy pay restraint in the public sector.
A case of ‘do what I say not what I do’.
What ever happened to public service?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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