by D.J. Webb

I oppose this too. I would also drop the “Short money”, a scheme whereby the opposition parties get state funding. I don’t see why MPs get more than about £50K a year (whether ministers or not), and don’t see the need to provide them with pensions or any expenses. I don’t see why they need to run constituency offices either – they are there not to be social workers, but to stand up in Parliament for the political views they indicated they would support during elections. My local MP told me I was the first constituent ever to raise political matters with him in the surgery, as most constituents want to try to rope the MP into minor disputes of various types.

As for “severance pay” for ministers dropped in a reshuffle – er… this assumes they’re entitled to their jobs. What next? Unfair dismissal claims by sacked ministers? In order to eliminate the distorting payroll vote in the Commons, I would pay every single MP £50K a year (set at twice the national average salary), regardless of whether he was in government or not, and the PM would get the same amount, and so would the Speaker. And that would be it: no expenses or anything else. No gravy train. The vast sums given to former prime ministers to run offices should be stopped immediately, as it has been shown they can earn astronomical sums from their memoirs and speeches. Tony Blair doesn’t need any more subventions now he is out of office.

Come to think of it, why does Parliament sit for so long? I would like to see Parliamentary sessions limited by statute to 13 weeks of the year, regardless of the circumstances, in order to limit the quantity of legislation. MPs should not be living mainly in the Westminster village, but actually mainly in their constituencies, with occasional trips to London for the occasional convening of Parliament…