“Scandalous” MPs’ 11% pay rise condemned by Socialist Party
Dave Nellist interviewed on BBC website, photo by BBC
Speaking to the BBC when the proposed 11% pay rise for MPs first caused an outcry in July, Dave Nellist, Socialist Party member and the ‘Coventry MP who gave away half his pay’ to workers’ struggles while representing his constituents, called the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority [Ipsa] proposal to increase MPs’ salaries to £74,000 by 2015 “scandalous”. Dave Nellist lived on a workers’ wage while an MP.
“The suggestion by [Ipsa chairman] Sir Ian Kennedy that the pay rise would be a way of keeping MPs from claiming more expenses is frankly amazing – I was almost lost for words,” he told the BBC.
“It’s basically saying they’ll get a bung on their salary as a way of keeping them in line.”
Kennedy appeared to suggest that if gold is not stuffed into the mouths of the MPs, they will merely increase their thieving through fraudulently presenting false expenses. It seems this complacency with regards to the criminal leanings of capitalist politicians is set to be confirmed by Ipsa.
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