I question the integrity of MPs and their pay rises

I MUST agree with Will Jenkins’ (HT letters, 24/5/17) point about the integrity of MPs – hardly surprising when they are not really accountable (in a conventional sense) to anyone, have no job description or any of the other characteristics of a job and essentially police themselves.

They seem to forget that they benefit from what must be the most generous fringe benefit scheme outside of a dictatorship – how many other jobs offer a second home when you have to stay away a couple of nights a week? It’s not just the rent/mortgage – there’s all the fixtures and fittings, family travel costs etc which seem to get overlooked.

I doubt there is a single MP that has not benefited hugely from these extravagant arrangements – they were quick to use John Lewis for benchmark pricing, not willing however to adopt JLP’s expenses policy.

They rely on us having short memories. Right in the middle of the austerity programme they awarded themselves an 11% pay increase when the rest of the public sector was receiving zilch.

At the time a number of MPs said they would donate the increase to charity because they thought it was wrong – I wonder how many still are.

Since then they have received another pay increase that for some reason did not attract the same publicity.

It is frequently said that we have to pay the best to attract the best. The alternative is that the huge remuneration package attracts those who haven’t got a cat in hell’s chance of even getting close to it with any other job.

Remember too that many regard it as only part-time! H Palmer