Yesterday Marcial Boo, the new boss of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), declared that the pay of MPs should go up by a massive 10%, taking their basic salaries to £74,000 a year, around three times average earnings. To this we must add the free travel and funding for their London pads. Bear in mind that all three major parties have policies in favour of holding down public sector pay – Labour’s policy is to hold public sector pay increases to 1%. Politicians wonder why we hate them…

Don’t forget that many of them get paid tens of thousands more for ministerial roles and for being Select Committee chairmen. MPs’ mean average pay is actually thousands higher than charted above. Don’t forget that this is the rate of pay for an entry level position, requiring no experience, training or qualifications – as Gordon Brown proves, you don’t even have to show up at the place of work. Absolute numpties get paid triple what a qualified, trained nurse gets paid. Don’t forget they have a 3 months paid summer holiday, another month off in December and the least number of working days in parliament since universal suffrage began. There is no need to pay MPs more – there are more than enough willing candidates for the jobs. MPs who want to earn more money should get a proper job…