Not a vote winner...

Dec 6 2005 By Helen Logan Evening Gazette

Reports abounded over the weekend of a bid being made for a 22pc pay rise.

But the speculation did not centre around company fat cats.

Instead it was MPs, who are understood to be wanting to put in such a whopping pay claim.

If this is true then it sends out completely the wrong signal when so many workers are facing severe wage restraints.

The MPs' argument, it is said, is that their basic pay needs bringing in line with senior key workers in the public and private sector.

Well, such a claim must have drawn cries of hypocrisy from people employed in many industries across the country.

And in particular the public sector.

For only a few weeks ago Chancellor Gordon Brown warned that pay increases for millions of public sector workers should be limited to 2pc next year.

He urged the pay review bodies for doctors, nurses, teachers, civil servants and the armed forces to take account of the economic impact of a surge in oil prices.

The Chancellor wrote to the bodies, emphasising that settlements should be based on the achievement of his inflation target of 2pc rather than on the recent temporary rise in the Consumer Price Index.

Any lament from MPs that their salaries have fallen behind others in similar roles will go down like a lead balloon with the tens of thousands of workers, who have also experienced a similar fate but who have no hope of plugging the gap with a mega-hike in pay.

Yes, it could be said that MPs' £56,000 basic salary does fall short when the heavy responsibility of the future of the country, in all sort of ways, falls on their shoulders.

But this is not the right time to ask for such a massive increase in their salary.

It if needs to be done it should be done in smaller steps over a lengthy period of time.