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Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

As for the Government's motions, let me first say that I will indeed support the Government's proposal on pay. Although it does not follow the recommendations of the SSRB, which set out the reasons for its recommendations, I believe that at a time when others in the public sector are having restraint forced on them in terms of their pay, Members should also show restraint and should not use the fact that we can vote on our own pay to vote ourselves a higher increase than the Government propose in line with that restraint. I would urge right hon. and hon. Members to exercise similar restraint and support the Government's proposal. Similarly, I will support the proposals on pension arrangements. The SSRB has come forward with an attempt at a solution on the issue of retained benefits, which offers a way out for colleagues whose contribution rate exceeds what is necessary to achieve the pension available given their retained benefits. It is important that that is looked at, albeit that the Government motion asks for that to be done in a cost-neutral way. I think that there is merit in the proposals put forward by the Conservative party's democracy taskforce, chaired by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke), to consider different pension arrangements in future, after the next election. We need to be very wary and aware of the circumstances in which many people in the private sector find themselves in terms of their pension arrangements. As I said, I welcome the Government's intention to find another way to set MPs' pay. However, I would say to the Leader of the House that, although it would not be right to question the independence of Sir John Baker, I question the fact that he is undertaking this review given that, in the past, he has referred to the issue and given some hints as to what he thinks might happen. Surely the task should be done by somebody who comes to the issue with a fresh face and fresh thinking. The Leader of the House made a number of references to a comparator, and a mechanism if the comparator no longer appears to be valid. It is up to the review to decide what the mechanism for choosing MPs' pay should be, and it may be that that does not involve a comparator. The Government should give the review the ability to undertake wide-ranging thinking on the issue. On that point, I support the proposal of my right hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean) that the House should undertake a review through the Members Estimate Committee because there will be value in the House having a range of proposals that it can look at when the time comes; it is perfectly valid for the House to already have done some thinking on the matter. I want to comment on why the issue of whether MPs vote on their pay has resonated so much with the public, and sadly, it is because many voters no longer trust politicians. They have a jaundiced view of politicians and are consistently given the view by the media that all MPs have their snouts in the trough. That is a disappointing representation on the part of the media because it damages this House, politics and our parliamentary democracy if people feel that they are not able to trust politicians. There are, of course, other ways in which trust in politicians is damaged, such as Governments not delivering on their promises, and other factors, but we should be concerned about the image of MPs portrayed by the media.