I'm sorry to disagree with Peter about the level of remuneration for MP's. Not with the actual figures, but with their worth. MP's have for many years set their own levels of pay. They have given themselves good and sometimes above inflation percentage pay rises. Labour have in the last few years, I agree, cut the size down. Their pay is still much better than that of Joe public. Including their non taxed allowences and all the other perks they have it is still good. They have sat for many years setting the level of pay for public service workers who do essential jobs. Don't forget that it doesn't take a mathematical genius to work out that a 2.9% pay rise of £17,000 is a considerable amount less than a 2.9% pay rise for someone on £64,000 who has seemingly unending perks, all expense paid trips all over the place, free lunches, free travel, tax wrangles, houses all over the place, paid for by us and furnished by us. And THEN bends the system without any moral conscience whatsoever.

Today the news that MSP's claimed for poppy wreaths for rememberance day on expenses shows the low level to which they will go to screw the system.

What ever job I have ever taken I always knew what the pay was. There are few headteachers earning £100,000.00. Those are HT's of the biggest schools. Their level of responsibility is so much higher than MP's who are relatively unaccountable. HT's and school are rigorously inspected and suffer undeniable stresses.Doctors save lives,you and I are alive because of their work.

They, MP's turn up when they wish,vote on (mostly) what they want. They get huge pensions and payoff's. They often have other jobs.Huge holidays

This isn't an envious view, I took my own route in life and wouldn't wish much other.I've turned down higher salaries and promotions. MP's take the job KNOWING what they get paid.

Nobody forces them into it.

In a hypothetical world where certain groups of people might not exist there will always be a need for doctors, teachers, nurses, cleaners, producers and manufacturers. Dangerously, MP's do not need to fit into these groups, we can do without them.I am not advocating dictatorship.

"It was wise of MPs to agree, some years ago, to link their pay to that of a Civil Service grade, a move designed to take the politics out of the issue.
But this tactful arrangement has broken down. Civil servants have accepted performance-related pay, and so the link doesn't really work any more.
It is amusing to think of MPs' pay being related to their performances, but hard to work out a good way of doing it...... They knew what parliamentary salaries were before they started. And they are increasingly feeble at their main job ? holding the Government to account" (Source:Daily Mail 2007) By the way I am not daily mail reader in disguise.

MP's should be beyond reproach.