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Opinion

Land of Hope and Glory

In January 2013, MP's made fresh demands for a £20,000 pay rise, with a survey showing more than two thirds of members believe they are not paid enough. Many MP's argue they are not paid enough (£65,738 per yr.) to sustain a job where they have to be in Westminster for most of the working week and their constituency homes at weekends. IPSA -The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is understood to be considering a rise of between £10,000 and £20,000 but no final decision will be made until next month. The changes would come into force after the 2015 general election. On average, Tories said their salary should be £96,740, while Liberal Democrats thought the right amount was £78,361 and Labour £77,322. Other parties put the figure at £75,091. A fifth of those questioned said they should be paid £95,000 or more. A senior MP recently said he feared they would be accused of having their ‘snouts in the trough’ but argued: ‘Voters may not like it, but if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Right monkeys in order to be democratic your case should be put to a referendum since you felt it was right unemployed people should take any job offered and millions ordinary people have not had rises for years on top of swinjing welfare cuts. As a consequence of your mismanagement the peanut crop has failed for everyone.