One of the myths peddled by various MPs to justify their arcane system of payments is the need to make Parliament accessible to everyone regardless of income. It has become the replacement justification for the status quo after the need to attract the “best and brightest” was discredited. After all, a candidate whose primary concern is making money may not make the best representative. That there is no shortage of very capable people lining up to become candidates regardless of salary may also have helped discredit this idea. The argument has therefore shifted its focus from encouraging people at the top to get involved, to enabling those at the bottom.
The desire to attract a wider range of candidates is a laudable one. There are plenty of people who would do well as candidates or MPs, but for whatever reason decide against standing. The job will always be difficult: long hours, hard decisions, a large workload and immense scrutiny. To become an MP you need to have a thick skin and a strong drive. In this respect a certain amount of people will be put off for reasons that are unavoidable. Money should not be one of them. But to claim that the current funding regime is a way of supporting this is misleading at best.
The salary of a backbencher starts at around £60,000, and is topped up with a generous expsenses regime. An MP elected at a General Election is guaranteed employment for at least four years, with very little in the way of actual attendance requirements. Played well they can then make extra money by trading on their new status and connections. If you don’t believe me then look no further than the Register of Members’ Interests. Assuming that you are any good at your job ministerial and select committee roles may open up, bolstering your salary substantially. Upon your retirement or ejection you are then given a generous index-linked pension. If you were competent then new doors are opened to you based on your new “expertise”. Would anyone on a low-income background seriously refuse to take such a job on the grounds of poor pay?
The reason that people from low-income backgrounds are discouraged from standing for election is not because they won’t get paid enough. The problem goes back to the electoral process. Regardless of your party, becoming an MP is an expensive business. Notwithstanding the £500 deposit a candidate has to cough up, elections have huge hidden costs if you want to win. Conservative Home puts the figure in the tens of thousands. If MPs want to be serious about widening access to Parliament, they should look at making it less expensive to stand for election, not claiming coffee tables off expenses.
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