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Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

I am listening carefully to what the right hon. Lady is saying about MPs' pay. Another part of the background to this is the disproportionately high salaries for Ministers and something that has disfigured this House and will continue to do so—the growing disparity in pay even between Back Benchers, with people on an extra £15,000 a year for chairing Select Committees and Public Bill Committees. How many of us are still on basic pay? That pay difference is very threatening, and it diminishes the number of principled resignations by Ministers. In the longer term, there should be a greater closeness between the salaries of Back Benchers, who do a lot of difficult work, and Ministers. I never thought that I would be guilty of avarice, but I am.