You don’t curb MPs salaries by taking the decision out of their hands

Harriet Harman has announced that MPs might lose the right to vote on their own salaries and conditions in the future. She is right in one thing, that the public do not like the fact that MPs vote on their own salaries, but scrapping their right to do it will not give them a lower pay rise.

At the moment the rise in MPs salaries is decided by the Senior Salaries Pay Board. According to their website, this board is made up of the following people:

Sir John Baker, CBE
Mark Baker, CBE
Mary Galbraith
Professor David Greenaway
Mei Sim Lai, OBE FCA FCCA DL
Michael Langley
Jim A P McKenna
Sir Peter North, CBE QC
Richard Pearson
Paul Williams

Quite possibly these people are the ‘great and the good’, but if they are then they are people I have never heard of. But the reason I mention this is because people often assume that MPs come up with their salary themselves, and if you gave the decision to an independent body of people then they would pay them less. Far from it. The recommended increase in MPs salaries this year is 2.8%, it is Gordon Brown and some other MPs who are suggesting that they only get 1.9% – in line with other public sector workers.

This same pattern is repeated in local government, where the public and local papers will often criticise councillors for getting a decent pay increase. Yet, many councillors get well below the minimum wage for the amount of hours they put in. Yes, it is a public service and yes they should be doing it for the public good. But also many councillors lose pay from their day job for the time they spend in meetings, they miss time with their families and they also often lose out on promotion opportunities at work because employers often don’t want to promote councillors as they know they will have to spend time out of their job on council duties.

In Sheffield, councillors get a decent allowance – about £11,000 – but the Leader (bear in mind this is a full-time job) gets around £28,000. I accept that is a very good salary and well above the average for the city. But for a job that is the equivalent of managing a large company it is very poor. You don’t attract the best people to run councils if you pay them salaries that are less than they would get in other jobs. Sheffield’s independent renumeration panel recognises that, and every year recommends a far higher allowance for the leader and cabinet members. But for political reasons, this is always rejected by councillors – who are wary of public opinion and vote against what would be in their own interests.

So by all means, give the job of deciding MPs and councillors salaries to an independent panel. But also remember that independent panels usually study their workload and recognise the hours they put in. Invariably they recommend a much higher pay rise than the general public would want to see.