Senior Tory wants MP pay doubled

Sir Patrick Cormack has fanned the flames again over MPs expenses and pay. The South Staffordshire MP, who entered Parliament in 1970, says, "I've submitted a detailed series of proposals to Sir Christopher Kelly (the standards commissioner) and I am perfectly happy that they should be published. I made it plain in my submission that I had reluctantly come to the conclusion that the simplest and fairest way forward would be an abolition of the allowances and a commensurate increase in salary. This is not a propitious time for such a change and so I made a number of detailed proposals on the allowance front which would I believe go a long way to restoring public confidence. Foremost among these was that the second home should always be rented and generally in London." What does he get for his pains. A diatribe from Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat MP from his hairshirt lair. "It's outrageous and offensive for such a senior Conservative to propose doubling MPs' pay." Why? Davey never said it was outrageous and offensive to be taking the allowances all those years. So why the humbug now?

MPs have no doubt been very silly in pretending that pay is some kind of vulgar topic, always likely to send the electorate into shock spasms. They cobbled together the Allowance Scheme. Now that allowances are to be curtailed it seems only right and proper to get a correct payment process in place. The labourer is definitely worthy of his/her hire. Let's not be mealy-mouthed about it.

There are plenty of people skimming from the top and bottom over business expenses, plenty who want fat salaries, and they are not necessarily bankers. We need to grow up about this and stop the childish prattle, petty jealousies and rather stupid remarks about MPs. It was a bad system, but let's get a new and better one in, without trying to make MPs feel bad about themselves every day.