A month ago, Lib Dem Voice set up a new poll for readers asking the simple question, MPs are currently paid £65k per annum. Do you think they should be paid more than this, the same, or less in the future?
Here’s what you told us:
44% (234 votes) – More than £65k
35% (187) – The same as now
21% (115) – Less than £65k
Total Votes: 536. Poll ran 24 Aug – 13 Sept 2009.
A plurality of LDV readers – who, of course, may or may not be representative of Lib Dem voters – believe our MPs to be under-paid, with just over one-third of you reckoning their current rate of pay is about right. Just one-fifth of you think members of Parliament should take a pay-cut.
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3 Comments
“LDV readers say: pay MPs more!”
No – 56% of LDV readers say pay MPs the same or less.
Why are you headlining the minority view?
Andrew,
To be fair, 79% say pay MPs the same or more. The truth is that there is no majority view. OTOH, very nearly half support paying them more.
I’m more interested in who these people are, however. As readers of LDV may contain within their number a disproportionate number of PPCs, I can’t help but wonder whether some among the 234 who would like MPs to be paid more might have a vested interest.
A second preference vote should have been available. “Less than £65” would have been eliminated on the first count. I’ll bet that not many of the second preference votes would have gone to “More than £65”.
I think the popularity of “More than £65k” may lie in the possibility that this has been mooted as a more transparent alternative to a complex allowances system. Frankly, my view is that £65k is plenty to support a mortgage on a decent home, and rent on a second.