Kendall says no to doubling MPs' salaries
Parliamentary Spokesman Cllr David Kendall has backed Lib Dem MP Ed Davey in his condemnation of Tory MP Sir Patrick Cormack who says MPs' annual pay should increase from £64,766 to more than £130,000.
Ed Davey MP, Lib Dem Foreign Affairs Spokesman, said 'He must be living on Planet Zog to think that doubling MPs' salary would restore public faith in Parliament.'
This revelation comes just a few days after Tory MP Alan Duncan suggested that MPs had been forced to live on 'rations' after the expenses scandal.
Cllr Kendall said:
"With Sir Patrick Cormack and Alan Duncan's comments and Eric Pickles disastrous appearance on Question Time in March, David Cameron must feel exasperated with many of his MPs. According to reports, as many as 30 Conservative MPs are to stand down in the wake of the Expenses scandal.
"Whilst Cameron is trying to present a Conservative Party who wants to change things, it is quite clear that many of his MPs are singing a different song."
David set the standard for the general election earlier this year when he made 10 pledges to the electorate:
1. I will not employ family members at public expense under any circumstances.
2. I will advertise all publicly funded jobs in the local press.
3. I will publish a list of all employees on my website.
4. I will publish details of all my expense claims at least monthly on my web site.
5. I will only make an expense claim where I am incurring genuinely additional costs in the service of my Brentwood & Ongar residents.
6. I will not accept any gifts, gratuities, entertainment or favour from lobbyists or anyone else who might be seeking to influence my opinion.
7. I will not take any other paid employment, directorship or consultancy beyond being Brentwood & Ongar's full time MP.
8. I will maintain an accessible constituency office in Brentwood & Ongar and hold monthly surgeries at accessible venues across the Brentwood & Ongar constituency.
9. I will not have a second home in London. I will commute to London by Public Transport.
10. I will voluntarily submit myself for recall to the constituents of Brentwood & Ongar upon receipt and verification of a petition of 20% of the local electorate.
The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for true electoral reform for many years and have recently set out their 100 day plan to do so.