Cabinet Ministers ONLY take 5% Pay Cut

[Highlander]

Cabinet minsters earn £137,000. Yes people, that is not a typo.

5% cut means they will still be earning just over £130,000.

A 20% pay cut would still leave them £100,000. I think this salary is perfectly reasonable.

have to make DS2's lunch but will be back.....

Well, actually they are running the country. It's a pretty important job so I don't really think that £137,000 is so huge an amount. A 5% cut is paltry and fairly meaningless, but then £137,000 x however many cabinet ministers there are is the tiniest drop in the ocean of the nations wealth/debts.

do they still get their MP's salary as well?

I think they are good to do this and are showing willing.

A cabinet minister gets £141000 PLUS their salary as an MP of £64000.
In addition, most of those who this will affect have other forms of income - Hague and Osborne have personal fortunes well in excess of £2 million and others receive thousands per month as non executive directors.
Don't worry, they won't be going hungry

Why on earth is it something to be angry about? They're volunteering to take less tax revenue as their salaries. Why isn't this good?

Also - are you sure William Hague has a personal fortune? I didn't think his books sold that well.

Hague has done various directorships, consultancies, after-dinner speaking of the sort that pays thousands, etc. Wouldn't be too surprised if he had managed to save up 2 million by now.

He's earned it though hasn't he? Not a trust fund baby.

absolutely!
Loved his Wilberforce book, too.

I don't think £137k is horrendously high for such an important job as helping run the country.

Many professionals earn this kind of income and more beyond (esp in London), and argueably probably not doing as such an important job.

A pay cut is still a pay cut.

but they are in public service - sure you need enough cash to live on that reflects your hours and respsonsibility, but you don't become a career politician for the cash.

DH earns £100k as a hospital consultant. He's embarassed that he gets paid so much (not that we're rushing to give it away )

Every year he has to meet his clinical director to review his job plan, to enusre that he's not being overpaid. For the last 5 years he works so hard that the NHS cannot afford to pay him. he's supposed to take an afternoon off/week instead - LOL. His job plan doesn't include the nights he spends doing paperwork.

Now if a hospital docotor can live on £100k and has a very high level of social responsibility - and DH expects his salry to be cut in the upcoming emergency bufget - then surely cabinet ministers can survive on £100k too?

I'm v angry about this

Hulaby - "A pay cut is still a pay cut"

well, that's what the governement is hoping we'll all say. A paltry pay cut is better than none. No it is not

• I know Labour would be just as awful about this

So what, some footballers get paid that amount every week!
I think the cabinet ministers are suitably paid for the responsibility and the s**t they put up with.

I don't think that's a lot of money for the job they do.

a pay cut shows willing and the right spirit. They often work six days a week, 14 hours a day.

If you pay peanuts you get ..... personally I think its a good guesture . Most of thease are ex lawyers - buisness people - stock brockers etc so TBH they are already taking a huge pay cut

Tax tken off - then it equates to about £90,000.

Not quite so much!

I don't see why cabinet ministers should not earn that much. It is far less than they would earn in business. Frankly with the expenses scandal I could see the argument that they should be paid more. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. Also, most senior politicos in other countries earn far far more. It's to keep them honest and stop them doing a Stephen Byers.

I think it is pretty good of them to lead from the front. A lot of private sector workers have taken pay cuts.

I don't think they're paid much at all for the job they do and the hours they work. I think ordinary MPs should be payed much more than they are too.

Considering the responsibility and stress and the long hours and the ingratitude that they have to put up with, they are underpaid. Like it or not, they are doing something that makes a difference to everybody (whether you agree with what they are doing is entirely another matter).

Why begrude them for earning their salary? Cabinet ministers and politicians earn their salaries, regardless of what you think of them. I actually think politicians are underpaid too for all the hours they put in. Those criticising their paltry salaries should do their job for a month - you would soon be singing a different tune.

And before anyone ask - I am not a politician and I am not a higher rate tax payer. Just someone who recognises the worth of a job.

2 issues to this OP; my tuppence worth: -

1. If you want women to go into politics you have to pay that much - at least.

Unless you only want rich men, with a wifey helping out, you need to pay a wage that can support a family, and possibly 2 homes. Seriously - I've read OPs on here saying MPs can stay in bunk beds in a sort of lodging house during the week. Well, I can't see many women with children opting for that, can you?

And if you want all sorts of people, not just those who are professional politicoes/ who've made/inherited vast sums and are able to retire/dabble in politics you have to pay enough to ensure they can do a job that they might be out of in 5 years.

I know this always provokes wails of disbelief on mn but it is true. Normally I keep off these threads, but I think I'm going to throw my opinion into the ring. What the heck ... .

1. I can see why they're taking a symbolic pay cut - I guess it presages pain for those of us on smaller incomes. Eeek. It is worrying.

I was listening to Oona King on the radio the other day (Labour MP deposed by mad dog Galloway in the last election) and the description of her hours and responsibilities were eyewatering - her husband says that basically he was a single man/parent while she was in parliament and that he hated every minute of it, as even when she was home she was working.

So, I think they do earn their salary, but also think that the extra money they pocketed via expenses is unacceptable - decent salary fine, but there is no need to milk the nation for every penny. I realise that's changing now, so hopefully it will all be clear, and they can be open and honest about their earnings.