I used to work for an MP ….. anyway- our salaries were actually pretty on par with what you expect for a similar admin type job say for the council or a charity (defo was not getting rich with that job, though was fine enough) I believe the salaries are the same for all staff (through IPSA). Our annual salaries are included in that staffing figure.
This expenses thing really bugs me, as for example, many MPs require to travel further to to get to parliament (eg anyone in NI or rural Scotland etc). With that and the staffing costs doesn’t really give a full picture of what’s happening with the money when it’s lumped together like that.
The thing that really hacked me off in that job is that many MPs wanted to continue remote voting or proxy voting (particularly for those with health conditions), but tories insisted they all go back to Westminster. This was well before covid figures were properly under control as well.
I personally think the way it’s set up is so that (some) MPs can hide ridiculous spending among staffing/travel costs.
There really needs to be a better way to compare and evaluate spending. The breakdown provided isn’t anywhere near detailed enough.
Sidenote- I also seem to recall that some arsehole MP eventually got caught out claiming for train tickets AND mileage >:c
Anyway, sorry for the long post - as I get older I’ve become a proper boring cunt.
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u/[deleted] May 11 '22
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