LETTER: MPs want pay rise because of expenses crackdown

Incidentally, MPs with additional responsibilities are paid more.

Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley), for example, has his salary topped up by £36k for being one of the Deputy Speakers.

If one believes all one reads in the press, MPs do not want the increase because prices of food, fuel and utility services are rocketing, but because the clampdown on their expenses has left them out of pocket!

On the subject of expenses, last year MPs claimed £89.4 million, an increase of 26% on the £71 million the year before.

The 2011/2012 total, which includes the cost of 50 iPads bought by MPs, is only slightly lower than the £95.4 million for 2008/09, which was on the eve of the expenses scandal.

So poverty struck are many MPs they have to take second jobs! According to the Register of Members Interests, David Milliband, for example, is earning over £500,000 a year from his outside interests.

Just for the record, in the year 2011/12, he claimed £170,499,61 in expenses; one of the highest claims for an MP, despite having one of the poorest attendance records.

I can only imagine what my old boss would have said if I had told him I wanted my full salary and expenses despite the fact I would only be working part time so I could fit in a lucrative second job.

And they say we are all in it together.

D.WALKER

Barrowford