MPs have no business taking on second jobs | Letters

Outside work will only distract MPs from the main job of representing their constituents, writes Bernie Evans, while Nick Broadhead advocates a rule on additional income, and Les Bright and Susan Lakeman propose shifts in care homes

A salary of £82,000 a year, roughly three times the national average, plus generous expenses, should be more than enough to attract decent people into a career in politics (MPs could be barred from consultancy roles in sleaze clampdown, 7 November). If it isn’t, the people being deterred probably are best doing other things. There is no need to “tighten restrictions” on MPs’ second jobs when the obvious solution is to ban them altogether.

Furthermore, if an MP finds sufficient time to do additional work, even if it is only a few hours a week, he or she is clearly not devoting enough time to constituency work. The argument that a second job provides MPs with greater awareness of “real life” outside Westminster can be countered by making it compulsory for MPs to spend two weeks of their very long summer break shadowing someone in their constituency doing full-time work for less than average pay.

Alternatively, the minimum age of MPs could become 30, almost fully guaranteeing that some experience of work is gained, prior to entering parliament. Whether “socially useless” work in the City counts as such could be left for the electorate to decide.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool

• Your report on the MPs who are consultants or advisers outside their parliamentary work (30 MPs who could be affected by proposed consultancy ban, 7 November) reveals some MPs who are paid more than double their MP’s salary by outside interests. If these amounts surprise people on the average UK salary, then they must feel obscene to people on universal credit.

A small number of MPs are obliged to maintain their professional status by continuing to practise, but this doesn’t apply to Chris Grayling being paid £100,000 by Hutchison Ports as a “strategic adviser”. So here’s an idea that the “levelling-up” secretary may like to address: why not apply a universal credit-type rule on MPs’ additional income, so that for every pound received above their salary, their salary is reduced by that same amount?
Nick Broadhead
Liverpool

• One reason cited for MPs having a second job is that such work keeps them in touch with life outside parliament. This may be a good thing, but the kind of work that appears on the list of their outside activities is generally associated with political influence.

Perhaps those drafting new rules should permit additional jobs, as long as they are in occupations experiencing shortages of labour – driving HGVs, jobs in care homes, seasonal work in the fields, or housekeeping jobs in the hotel sector.
Les Bright
Exeter

• I see that the trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, thinks that MPs having second jobs brings a “richness” to the Commons (Report, 8 November). Well, I agree, and see no harm in MPs making ends meet by taking on other work, so long as it does not interfere with their duties as political representatives.

What about a few hours a week shelf-stacking, or pizza-delivering at times when the House is not sitting? Or perhaps covering shifts in a care home – maybe in their constituencies?

I’m sure they’d find the odd low-paid worker who could advise on fitting it all in with other responsibilities.
Susan Lakeman
Canterbury

Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

Letters

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Bankers should pay their fair share of tax for society’s sake | Letters
Letters: Thoughts on the pay and tax of the rich from Bernie Evans, Chris Hughes and Martin Lunt

Letters

15, Mar, 2019 @4:11 PM

Article image
Exploitation and lies in the new world of work | Letters
Letters: The gig economy stands for zero-hours contracts, no holiday pay, no pension rights, no sick pay

Letters

18, Nov, 2016 @6:58 PM

Article image
Delving deeper into the gender pay gap | Letters
Letters: Naomi Wayne says lessons can be learned from 1970s activism. Dr Stephen Vallely says all NHS consultants, whether male or female, are paid on exactly the same salary scale. Danny Dorling takes issue with the the Oxford Diocesan School Trust. And Ann Pask says Britain should not still be waiting for a living wage

Letters

03, Apr, 2018 @5:25 PM

Article image
Ministers can – and must – give nurses a fair pay rise | Letters
Letters: The government should not try to hide behind pay review bodies, write Alastair Hatchett, Peter Ball, Laurence Jackson, Jeff Brice and Alan Innes

18, Dec, 2022 @6:21 PM

Article image
We need honesty on the pitfalls of freedom of movement | Letters
Letters: Guardian readers reflect on the role of EU immigration on wages and working conditions

Letters

20, Nov, 2019 @5:57 PM

Article image
Care work has been undervalued for years. Now we see the consequences | Letters
Letters: Care workers need parity of esteem and pay with NHS workers, writes Rachael Dodgson, while Dr Chris Allen calls for strategies to fix fragmented services and Debbie Black describes the effect of Brexit on the staffing crisis

Letters

26, Aug, 2022 @4:48 PM

Article image
The moral case for better jobs and fairer pay | Letter
Letter: Being paid adequately for our work is vital for us to feel valued and be productive, says Prof Chris Warhurst

22, Dec, 2022 @5:13 PM

Article image
Carers and patients are being failed by funding rules | Letters
Letters: Lynne Collins responds to a report about Kate Garraway’s struggle to get essential care for her husband and shares her own experience

13, Sep, 2023 @4:55 PM

Article image
A tribute to key workers and those lost to Covid | Letters
Letters: Readers on how to memorialise the thousands who have died in the pandemic and healthcare workers who risk their lives

Letters

22, Mar, 2021 @5:20 PM

Article image
Robot pets are a symptom of a crisis in care | Letter
Letter: There are better ways to support care home residents, such as improving conditions for staff, writes Chris Phillipson

06, Sep, 2023 @4:52 PM