to think David Cameron and chums should take a paycut?

[ChocolateBananas]

Hes making cuts, why not make them in his own department of work? TWAT!

[Hulababy]

Not sure they are that highly paid considering the job they do anyway are they? Some argue they should be paid more to ensure you get the right calibre of MP and where they focus on that one job and not try and do other stuff besides.

Mind you - pensions...that's where the rest of us are finding cuts, what are their pensions like?

[SarahBumBarer]

Agree with Hulababy. They earn significantly less than successful accountants/lawyers/financiers and the list goes on.

And you can't entirely blame Cameron. MP's vote on their own salaries and Gordon tried several times to get them to exercise restraint. Tried but failed. So then they are all twats?

[ChocolateBananas]

tell that to their second house in spain!

[AlpinePony]

Er, they did take a pay-cut.

They can't win though. Even if they were to pay themselves NMW or even work for "free", you'd still all be slagging them for being "posh nobs".

[eurochick]

I don't think they are that highly paid for what they do (at least compared to the private sector alternatives). And they have a pretty short shelf life.

[thestringcheeseincident]

how much does the PM earn?

[surelynottrue]

David earns £142,500 which by the way is less than 170 civil servants not to even mention the private sector. It is also less than Irish Republic, Canada, France, Germany and US leaders earn for example.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

MPs took a http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7721579/Coalition-government-ministers-begin-work-with-a-5pc-pay-cut.html 5% paycut in 2010. What do you want to achieve? That only people with a private income can afford to be MPs? PM gets £142,500 plus an MPs salary of £64,766.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

5% paycut

[ChocolateBananas]

i didnt know that, i always though they were highly paid, you know cause of their big houses and houses abroad..

AlpinePony, its got nothing to do with them being posh or not, i dont care where they are from, all i care about is them bankers who gamble our countrys money away got millions of pounds of bonus', from our government and our recent government are in MY eyes making some bad decisions!

[ChocolateBananas]

C.E.S what you have just said made no sense to me then, is the link for what theyve done, its coming up as jibberish to me.... :/

[MrsBuntyisRatherGrumpy]

I'd just like DC and chums to bugger off out of government more than anything else. I think they are doing a pretty good job of making sure they won't be re-elected.

[ChocolateBananas]

hahaha, completely agree with you Mrs Bunty!! :D

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

The link is to a story - happens to be the Daily Telegraph on this occasion - from May 2010 when Coalition ministers took a 5% paycut, the PM included. Many MPs in all the parties are independently wealthy, having had successful careers before becoming politicians or having come from wealthy backgrounds. A salary of £66k is respectable but it wouldn't buy too many holiday homes

We've had all but about £85bn of the country's money back from the bankers since the crisis in 2008. And that £85bn is invested in banking shares which, at some point, should be sold at a profit.

[aliceliddell]

Chocolate - that would be right, because what this govt have done IS gibberish

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

So CB... Since David Cameron has done exactly what you suggest and got his ministers to take a paycut does that mean you'll be voting Tory again? :)

[BornInAfrica]

OP sounds like an over-excited 8 year old on a steady diet of E-numbers and blue smarties

[Malcontentinthemiddle]

well, he earns more than three times what Gideon thinks is such a king's ransom as to not need CB - so even by his reckoning, he's awfully well off. So if they think that no-one in the higher rate tax band needs a penny more than £42K, even if they have children, mortgage, etc..... then it must be indefensible for them to take home what they do. Surely.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Average income is about £25k... so £42k is a king's ransom from that perspective. What are we suggesting then? PM on minimum wage? Working for nothing? Some kind of sponsorship scheme?

[Glitterknickaz]

Well if we're all to feel the pain it's not such a bad idea...

[CatIsSleepy]

maybe they should start with the MPs pension scheme

[Andrewofgg]

Be careful what you wish for. I don't want to go back to the days when only the independently wealthy could go into politics.

[pointythings]

Not so bothered about their wages, but very, very bothered about the way they aren't reforming the MPs' pensions whilst taking the axe to everyone else's.

[sausagesandmarmelade]

Yes, yes...hear, hear and all that!

If we are indeed 'all in it together' then they should be subjected to the same austerity measures as the rest of the civil service.

Freeze their pay, make them pay oodles more in contributions for their pensions and let them also work till their late 60's before they can claim their pension!

Oh.....and let them also pay for their care in old age....using up their savings and selling their homes to pay for their care.

[meditrina]

He's already taken a pay cut, hasn't he?

And has been speaking publicly about reforming (ie cutting) MPs pensions (in line with reforms to other public sector pensions - same increase in contributions, and career average, not final salary).

So YANBU, and you must like what he's doing.