Donal MacIntyre and Hannah Barnes have reported on MPs’ interns for BBC Radio 5 live:
MPs could be breaking the law by not paying their parliamentary interns. Hundreds of young graduates are putting in thousands of hours of unpaid work at Westminster. This practice is excluding many young people without independent financial support from a route that many see as the first step on the ladder to a political career. But, this is not just a question of pushing the bounds of fairness. Minimum wage regulations require that some of these interns should be paid.”
You can listen to the podcast of last Sunday’s show “Parliament’s unpaid workers” here.
Among Liberal Democrat MPs, practices vary: Phil Willis and Alistair Carmichael pay their interns the national minimum wage while others pay only travel and lunch expenses.
I spoke to Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, who puts his interns on a contract as part-time researchers:
John Armah This article is to be welcomed. A fair and honest policy on immigration regular or otherwise needs to start with some honesty. Reform/Restore and some parts of ...
Nigel Jones I think this is an important article, the key point being the kind of message we give people about immigration. Too many people think mistakenly our policy is t...
Neil Sandison "Clear Liberal Objective" Is that not in the preamble of our constitution ? Is that not the bedrock of The Liberal Democrats as a social liberal party ?
We ha...
William Wallace sarah; rebalancing our economy is a positive sum game both for london and the rest of the country. the south-east is short of water and electricity, and short ...
Peter Wrigley @ Chloe. I'm sorry you haven't noted any benefits from migration in your area. Be contrast, in my area, the old Heavy Woollen District of Yorkshire, immigrant...
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