MPs are to get a good pay rise, and some of them will deserve it (MPs to get £2,200 pay rise next month, 1 March). However, the rest of the public sector miss out with lower rises. It is now time for all public sector pay to be related to that of MPs – or even the prime minister. That way, all will get the same rise – whether a nurse, doctor, teacher or refuse collector.
In fact, the prime minister’s allowance, and that of MPs, could be linked to the private sector. Running a country is as important as running a major business and should be rewarded accordingly. If the prime minister’s allowance was equal to, say, the median of that paid in the previous calendar year to executive directors of the FTSE 250 companies, then all jobs and professions in the public could have their pay set at an appropriate percentage of the prime minister’s allowance. All would be reviewed for payment from April.
Of course, in the unlikely event that company directors cut their pay, all those in the public sector would also have a pay cut.
Gerard Cavalier
Southampton
• It’s reassuring in this time of so much uncertainty that little has changed at the trough in Westminster. As our heating bills go through the roof, and our shopping basket gets more expensive, MPs are to get another £40 a week pay rise. It’s good to know that while the world is in turmoil, the Westminster bubble just carries on.
Syd Vaughan
Birmingham
• Let us hope that this proposed pay rise alleviates MPs’ poverty sufficiently for them to relinquish their second jobs and devote themselves fully to the day job.
Patricia Baker-Cassidy
Oxford
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