REFORM MP SAYS MPS SHOULD BE ON £250,000 A YEAR – OR ZERO
Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has said MPs should get paid £250,000 a year or be wealthy enough that they did not need a salary.
Speaking on GB News, Rupert Lowe said:
“It won’t affect me because I give my salary to charities each month, so I don’t take the MP salary; I’m in politics to try and change things, not to earn a living. I am fortunate that I don’t need to.
“But I think intellectually, either the salary should be a lot higher or there should be zero.
“So I think either we should go back to the old method, where people went into Parliament when they had experience of life, and they were known in their local community, and they made a contribution in Parliament.
“But I think the bigger question is, has the sovereignty of Parliament been undermined by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s malign legislation which has taken away power from parliament.
“I think the parliamentary staff are now arguably more powerful than the MPs.
“So I would like to see the sovereignty of Parliament returned under the 1689 Bill of Rights. The King provides, effectively, the titular head of state, then you have Parliament, and then you have, ultimately, the Lord’s providing guidance in the background. But Parliament should be omnipotent.
“It’s not anymore, thanks to the expenses scandal and thanks to a lot of this malign legislation, it’s been undermined.
“So I think it’s in the interest of the electorate to see that power returned to Parliament. So that’s aligned to what people get paid. And if you’re going to attract really good people, you’re not going to attract really good people earning £92,000 a year.
“I think it’s got to be pushed up to a meaningful amount so you actually attract proper people. I don’t really have a figure in mind.
“£100,000 a year now means you’re earning a relatively modest amount of money every month, given the inflation that the Bank of England let rip under Quantitative Easing.
“I think a quarter of a million pounds a year. You actually want a proper salary to encourage proper people in.
“I personally think the model worked very well when you didn’t get paid at all.
“The Prime Minister would be on more than that. He’s not paid enough; a lot of civil servants earn more than the Prime Minister.”
