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Comment by zimpenfish | Hacker News Reader

https://archive.ph/N7xvO#selection-941.0-941.69

I was pleasantly surprised at the sanity of the suggestions, especially in a Murdoch rag, until I came to ...

> My last proposal: raise MPs’ pay by 50 per cent at the next election.

Yeah, you're going to have a hard job convincing people having to budget how many eggs they can afford that MPs should get an extra £43k a year.

> The calibre of too many politicians is shockingly poor.

Many of those previously celebrated and pushed by Murdoch papers...

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We need to raise MPs pay higher than that, and cover it via a hypothecated levy on UK firms and partners that is a percentage of what they pay their executives.

That way the more firms pay their top people, the more MPs get paid.

In exchange MPs should be barred from such jobs for a period after leaving office - golden handcuffs.

MPs are running the country. They should be paid more than a mere corporate executive.

> cover it via a hypothecated levy on UK firms and partners that is a percentage of what they pay their executives.

That'll just lead to more executives being paid £1 pa and then getting the rest in stock / image rights / whatevers.

It's like Sagan said - "To pay MPs more, first you must invent a functioning tax system."

> In exchange MPs should be barred from such jobs for a period after leaving office

Currently I believe they're barred from jobs in sectors where they've had any influence, decision making, etc. but as a quick glance at pretty much any Private Eye of the last decade will highlight, that means nothing.

> MPs are running the country. They should be paid more than a mere corporate executive.

If the first sentence were true, I'd (maybe) agree with the second. But the current bunch aren't running the country, they're chasing the right wing vote whilst feathering their own nests.

You’re right around public opinion but I think the approach is correct.

I remember reading a study showing clear correlation between politicians salary and corruption levels.

We need better people doing the job and when they get there they need to not be persuadable away from either their values or the work they are being paid to do because of money.

Their values are money. You don't go to Eton, become a Tory MP and work for your constituency. You get there to gain influence and power that you can peddle to anyone willing to give you money. The ability to shift and sell public services to people for favours, donations and cash is part of their system, not a flaw that would be eradicated by another 50k

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