radiofree.asia

Category: MP expenses

  • Thousands more for Boris Johnson and MPs while NHS workers get real terms pay cut

    Boris Johnson will be receiving a £2,212 pay rise, Downing Street has confirmed. This will also be given to all MPs in April. Meanwhile, as of April the nation faces a 10.4% hike in National Insurance contributions.  And NHS workers, for whom the prime minister stood and clapped at No 10’s doorstep, face a real terms pay cut.

    Nice job if you can get it

    The increase in MPs’ pay will come in as the nation faces a cost of living crisis, with rising energy bills and a hike in National Insurance. The average reported salary of MPs is around £82k a year. That’s in addition to expenses and second home allowances. Meanwhile, the average salary in nursing is between £14.5k and £30k a year.

    The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said the annual adjustment to MPs’ basic pay for 2022/23 will be 2.7%.

    Ipsa said the decision is “in line” with its previous ruling in 2015 to adjust MPs’ pay at the same rate as changes in public sector earnings published by the Office of National Statistics. The adjustment does not appear to be on a scale to account for the already considerable amount of public money being paid to individual MPs.

    How the other half lives

    A spokesperson claimed Johnson has no way of refusing the automatic increase in his pay as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. And he will not cut the amount he gets for his job as prime minister to counteract the rise. To clarify, Johnson earns £79.5k as prime minister in addition to his MP salary of £82k. Meaning he takes home a grand total of £161.5k annually (£163k as of April).

    Johnson’s spokesperson declined to say whether Johnson will donate the increase to charity.

    Asked if he would cut his ministerial salary by £2,200, the spokesperson said:

    The ministerial element of the Prime Minister’s salary has been frozen for some time now and will remain so.

    Johnson claimed in July 2021 that his salary is not enough to live on. Meanwhile, according to one source, while the average salary in London is considerably higher at £39.7k, in the North East region workers earn an average of only £27.5k a year.

    By The Canary

  • Even a Tory MP thinks it’s ‘plain wrong’ for landlord MPs to claim rent on expenses

    Senior Conservative MP Roger Gale has said it is “plain wrong” for colleagues to be earning money as landlords of properties they own in London, while also taking taxpayers’ cash to pay their own rent.

    The Times reported that 14 MPs were taking advantage of a loophole in the parliamentary expenses scheme which means they can let their homes to tenants, and then claim for rent paid on a London rental property to live in.

    The arrangement is permitted under Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) rules and many of those who claim are also critical of the system, claiming it ultimately costs taxpayers more, but that they are pushed into the arrangement as MPs are not allowed to claim mortgage interest payments as expenses.

    Former attorney general Geoffrey Cox is one of those who claims for rental income while owning a London home.

    As an MP with a constituency outside London, he is entitled to claim accommodation costs for staying in the capital.

    Until 2017, he was claiming between £8,000 and £9,000 a year in “associated costs”, such as utility bills and service charges on a property he owned.

    But from 2018, his claims rose to £22,000 a year after he moved into a rented property.

    At the same time, his declaration in the Register of Members’ Interests showed that from November 2017 he was collecting more than £10,000 a year renting out a residential property in London.

    “Plain wrong”

    North Thanet MP Gale was asked about the set-up on Times Radio.

    He said:

    Well, I think the situation that you’ve described if it is correct, is plain wrong. It’s wholly maybe within the regulations, but it’s wholly against the spirit of what is happening.

    The intention was not that you should rent one place and hire let out another. The intention was that you have to have – and you do have to have – a second base. If you’re a Member of Parliament, there’s no doubt about that. You’ve got to go and sleep somewhere.

    We don’t sit late at night as we used to, that’s certainly true. But nevertheless, most members of Parliament from most parts of the country can’t get home at night. So you have to have somewhere to stay.

    I rent a room at a friend’s flat for about a quarter of the allowance that I’m allowed to spend because it’s congenial. And it’s value for money, as far as I’m concerned it’s value for taxpayers’ money because it is taxpayers’ money. And we need to remember that.”

    Controversial

    An Ipsa document in 2017 acknowledged that such arrangements could be controversial but advised against any change to the rules. It said:

    We recognise that there can be a perception of personal gain if an MP receives rental income from their own property while living in an Ipsa-funded flat.

    However, our view has not changed that an MP’s personal financial situation is not a relevant ‘test’ for whether they should receive support from Ipsa.

    We do not want to judge an MP’s private arrangements and whether or not they should live in a property they own.

    Our concern is to ensure that MPs have the appropriate support they need to carry out their parliamentary roles, including suitable accommodation in two locations.”

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on The Canary.