Greedy MPs award themselves inflation-busting pay rise

Greedy MPs are planning to grab £300 million in salaries and business expenses over the next year.

They are awarding themselves a 5 percent pay rise. This includes an extra “cost of living” payment.

The pay rise will take their yearly salaries to £98,599 next year. And they are on course to be paid £110,000 a year by the end of this parliament.

Labour health secretary Wes Streeting has slammed resident doctors for daring to fight for more than the 3.5 percent he has offered them—while he awards himself a 5 percent rise.

And Streeting has offered nurses just 3.3 percent.

The average wage in Britain is £39,000. But MPs wages aren’t just high and rising fast—they are supplemented by second jobs and gifts for the grifters.

According to parliament’s latest Register of Members’ Financial Interests, MPs have declared almost £5.5million since 2022.

Ex-prime minister Rishi Sunak topped the earnings table at £1.29m from his role in promoting AI companies such as Anthropic.

Far right Nigel Farage came next with over a million from sounding off on GB News presenting and flogging of tacky Cameo video messages.

MPs also declared £2.8 million in freebies in the latest register—football and gig tickets. They also enjoyed £1.29 million worth of accommodation, expenses and travel abroad, registered as “visits outside Britain”.

MPs can also supplement their wages with lucrative expenses claims. Labour MP Karen Bradley claimed nearly £50,000 from 2024-25.

And another Labour MP, Darren Jones, was just a few hundred behind. Jones claimed for having his landline phone driven by courier from Bristol North to Westminster and the cost of moving house.

Labour MP and Minister for Industry Chris McDonald is certainly industrious when it comes to claiming his expenses. Last year, he claimed £500 worth of microphones and sound-absorbing wooden panels so he could record a podcast from his home.

McDonald claimed more than £1,200 for a boardroom table for his office, which he said would help his work in his North East constituency.

MPs who represent constituencies just 35 minutes from the Commons can claim more than £30,000-a-year of taxpayers’ money to rent a London crash-pad—so they avoid any irritating commute home.

In the first year of this parliament, MPs claimed over £15 million in expenses.

The comfortable life of an MP

The total staff budget for MPs has risen from £103 million in 2019 to a proposed £184 million in the coming year. This figure includes £7.7million for resource to tackle “backlogs” in work.

While many struggle to pay their bills each month, every MP’s office will be able to spend £4,000 on “health, wellbeing and development”.

London MPs are getting a 6.3 per cent uplift to cover accommodation. MPs from outside the capitol have been handed 5.2 per cent—boosting costs by £900,000 a year.

Greater London MPs can now rent properties in Westminster even though they live within commuting distance.

Ipsa, the organisation that sets MPs salaries, blamed the rise on a “significant increase in constituency casework”, pointing to the “situation in the Middle East” and “domestic policy changes, such as benefit reform”.

MPs were also using more taxis due to security worries.

No petrol bill problems for cabinet

Cabinet ministers have claiming nearly £60,000 in expenses towards their petrol bills, while refusing to help with the bills the rest of us face.

Eleven members of Keir Starmer’s cabinet have relied on taxpayer-funded subsidies to help run their vehicles according to expense receipts.

Among the claimants was Rachel Reeves, who according to the expenses analysis claimed just over £2,000 towards her petrol bills.

The highest claimant was Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, who got £8,766, followed by Wales Secretary Jo Stevens with £8,724 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Jonathan Reynolds who claimed £8,717.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed £7,837, Defence Secretary John Healey got £6,412 and Sir Keir’s Chief Secretary, Darren Jones, claimed nearly £6,000.