To think the headline about young MP giving away half her wage is misleading?

[SarahH12]

A friend shared an article with the headline "Britain's youngest MP vows to only take home £35k of her £79k salary" with lots of comments that it's great she is giving away half her salary.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/britains-youngest-mp-vows-only-21094591?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mirror_main

By the time you take into account tax, NI, pension, possibly student loan etc her take home would be in the region of 40-45k. So whilst it's great she's planning on donating 5-10k and it's a lot more than a lot of people, she is nowhere near giving away "half" her salary. Also she mentions she wants to take home a "working" salary. The average nurse takes home way less than 35k!! I work for the NHS and I don't know a single one of my colleagues who takes home that much.

How do you know she has minimal outgoings?

She could be trying to save for a house deposit like a lot of 23 year olds? she could be supporting a family member? She could have debts?

@Wtfdoipick yes, actually, other posters have understood the OP and the difference between the amount the attention grabbing headline states and the actual amount. What people are criticising is that OP seems to be blaming the MP and not the media outlets for the misleading headline, and then spiralling into a bizarre justification that she should sacrifice more based on her age and assumed outgoings.

OP yes some people have long commutes. I still maintain that 3 hours each way is very exceptional. My point related to pay per hour, not how much she pays for transport, which again links back to your bizarre focus on 'outgoings,' which, yet again, are irrelevant to salary. Lots of jobs have different perks, including, for example, free travel for Met police on the underground. Got issue with them too?

So she has ‘minimal outgoings’ but despite the fact you’re also young- you describe yours as much more significant- huge student loan etc. How are you so sure she’s not in the same boat? Or are you just losing the plot of your previous assertions as the argument has changed and you look a bit silly?

Jeez, give it up already OP. You complain about publicity seeking, but I only know this MP exists because you told me. You are giving her loads of publicity and making yourself look pretty and mean in the process.

It's this sort of shit that gives Tory voters a bad name.

What would make you happy here?

Her quietly giving money to charity and not feeling the need to go to the papers.

So instead of donating to charity and demonstrating her commitment to fairer wages by doing something which might galvanise others into action, you would rather she gave quietly to charity, never mentioned it and failed to take the opportunity to improve things for everyone. Whatever your intentions, this thread doesn't portray you in a particularly favourable light.

Yet another whiny assed thread because boohoo somebody else’s job pays better than my job .

People can never do enough can they? Even if it’s well meaning with best intentions there will always be a poster fuming that they are exaggerating/not doing enough/talking to the press too much.

I don't understand why you are criticising someone for trying to be decent?!

Whether is £30k, £3k or even £300 she is still giving more to charity than most other people. I don't know anyone that gives away any of their salary to charity!

Honestly, people can't do right for doing wrong. Good on her.

I think it's a lovely thing to do. She isn't unique either, a number of MP's give away part of their salary.

What I personally want to know is what happened to all the MN'ers that, in the run up to the election, were dying to pay more of their HUGE salaries in tax to help those less fortunate ;)

How is she planing to pay her staff , plus living costs in both constituency and London. This sounds very naive and frankly a publicity stunt . I doubt when the reality of the job and the lifestyle but she will find that this is not as simple as she first thought . But good on her for trying to stick by her principles.

Pease the staff costs are paid separately and there will be some expenses she can claim for having to maintain two households.

All SNP MPs and MSPs have refused the last several pay rises and donate the difference to charity, including Nicola Sturgeon with her First Minister's salary. This is something that politicians who care about more than money do. Why save your ire for her? You come across as mean and petty, and not a nice person in nit-picking this.

YABU. Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

Her intentions are to be applauded.
Yours are not.

Just goes to show, whatever you do, there's always going to be someone moaning and whinging FFS.
YABU
VVVVU

How is she planing to pay her staff , plus living costs in both constituency and London

With the expenses provided for the purpose. Someone gives away £18k a year by my reckoning and they get lambasted for it. What a nasty, mean spirited person you are, OP. Come back and complain when you’re giving the same amount to charity.

I am not in her constituency, but if I were, I'd prefer that she spent this money on making her domestic life and logistics easier and focus instead on her job to deliver to people who had elected her. Doing overtimes in the office rather than cleaning and home maintenance. Like probably every working woman on £80K I know has to do.

How much do you think a cleaner cost, @sympathticswan?
Also, why is cleaning her house her problem. If she has a partner with fully functioning arms and legs then he can do it. Would you say the same if this MP were a man?

As it is we have a cleaner on a household income of less that £80k.

I think she may have set herself up to fail, because if she still claims the MP's allowance, or has to take more money at any point in the future (which will be inevitable because of inflation), there will be people waiting to pounce.

Imho, politically she would have been better off if she made one large annual donation to a charity.

IME a BAME woman with a high profile in politics is always going to be subject to a lot of scrutiny (and criticism) in this country unfortunately.

@FlamingoAndJohn
For a full time single parent working in a demanding job? I'd guess starting from around £300 / month where I am. Yes, I'd say the same for a man.
I do appreciate that her background is quite underprivileged, but I'd have more trust I her if she spent these money more , for a lack of better word, rationally, more similarly to someone who came from poverty to a £80K salary through hard work. Which is not only domestic help (I just took it as one single example), but also holiday (there are few £80K jobs that don't burn you out with stress, and an MP is probably not on the list), quality childcare, pension, savings, paying off student debt, etc. I guess I trust the competency of people who put the oxygen mask on themselves first more.

Wtf now there is someone slagging her off for not spending the money on a 'cleaner and home maintenance' and will therefore not be able to do her job properly and will fail her constituents

Oh and doubling down on it!

Brilliant.

Her generosity PROVES that she is incompetent.

Love it 😁

Jesus - there are some OPs who are right dicks and then there is this OP.

Plenty of us donate a huge percentage of our income without the need to publicly announce it

And how much do you donate, OP?

Yes I did vote Tory.

Ah, that explains a lot.