Friday, March 5, 2010

Alright for some

Now I don't really have a problem with people getting paid what they are worth, I'm aware that many are low paid and that some people get what seems to an ordinary guy like me extraordinary amounts of money, but that's the way the market works and some are just lucky and it doesn't stress me or get my blood pressure skyrocketing.
MP's however are a different kettle of fish as they have power (to some degree) over me and I pay their wages as does everyone that pays tax and so I expect high standards of behaviour, honesty and hard work, just like my employer does of me. What I get though is a bunch of crooks fiddling the system and handing over the duties I elected them to do to a foreign government, they even ignore the country I live in and seem determined never to mention it unless pressed and want to Balkanise it into bite size chunks to stop us being a threat to said foreign government (by leaving) who doesn't want to lose a nice cash cow.
So MP's are getting a pay rise.

BBC.
MPs will get a rise of nearly £1,000 in their basic salary from 1 April, taking their pay to £65,737 a year.
The 1.5% increase follows uproar at the MPs' expenses scandal and anger among public sector unions at pay freezes.
MPs used to vote on their pay but now recommendations by the Senior Salaries Review Body go through automatically.
The government says ministers will turn down the rise. One union said the rise did not "seem right" when "low paid" council workers' salaries were frozen.
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.
Downing Street said ministers would not take any rise, either in their basic MPs' pay or their additional ministerial salaries.
Cabinet ministers currently get an extra £79,754 per year, giving them a total salary of £144,520.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: "The prime minister is clear that we need to strengthen public confidence in the political system and reduce the cost of politics."
 Now I didn't get a pay rise last year, might not get one this year either so I look at those who are taking my taxes and wonder just what the hell it is they're playing at, same goes for local councils as well. Seems just about everyone's dipping their hands in my pockets yet giving me lower levels of service. The EU now legislate over huge swaths of competence in this country, our MP's just rubber stamp it, they aren't allowed to change it, so why bother reading it, they have civil servants for that. So doesn't seem like I'm getting value for money there either, they also claim expenses way past what seems logical or honest bending the rules or often enough breaking them to the point where the abuses seemed the norm rather than one offs by the odd rogue. All my costs will/have gone up this year, rent, council tax, fuel, food etc. And I'm part of a productive minority paying my way so to speak, yet I'm getting very little this year and I understand why, it's a recession, my companies struggling to survive, this year will be better we hope, but hope doesn't mean a pay rise.
Personally I don't think I get value for money from the government (all of it, national, local, even international) so I don't think they're worth a pay rise, no doubt they disagree but it's still my money (and yours probably) In fact I do believe because at national level they've delegated so much of our sovereignty and authority to the EU they should actually get a pay cut of about say 80% in line with EU regulation compared to actual work that they do.
A better way would be of course to tie MP's salaries to the national average with a decent well monitored and enforced expenses scheme including a room in a hostel for the night near Westminster. I think we'd soon see the national average wage rise.
I doubt they'd want performance related pay, a lot of them would end up owing money rather than receiving it.

3 annotations:

Uncle Marvo said...

They have no power over you.

It's an illusion. Reject it.

I am Stan said...

Given the dire straights the economy is in MPs should freeze their own pay,but then hell may freeze first.

Greedy bastards!

Anonymous said...

You have power over them. They work for you. They are "ordinary people" who have a very well-paid job for which there are no qualifications...and which requires little or no skill.

The people who have power are the ones who draw up the laws. These MPs are just voting fodder.

There's no way that they should ahve a pay rise after what they have done this year.... 1.5%, what a joke. Nothing for me this year. Again.