MPs think they’re worth the 10% pay rise handed to them last year – just one in ten of them have donated the extra cash to charity. So what are taxpayers getting in exchange for £74,000 a year – £47,500 over the national average? The Commons wasn’t sitting last week, and isn’t sitting this week either. Indeed, the House rises for all but 12.5 weeks between now and September 5. Westminster will be in recess for just shy of half the time between now and the end of the summer…

MPs will be required in Westminster for just 23.5 weeks until the end of the year, they are in recess for a massive 17.5 weeks this year. The UK’s statutory annual leave entitlement for workers is 5.6 weeks. Politicians will reply that they aren’t on holiday and claim they’re hard at work in their constituencies. The foreign dial tones when you ring their mobile phones suggest otherwise…