Government doesn’t support cap on MP pay as a part of sleaze reforms
The government does not support a cap on MP pay as a part of reforms proposed after last year’s Conservative party sleaze scandal, it has been revealed.
The Guardian reports that ministers recently submitted its proposals for reform of parliament’s rules on second jobs for MPs to Westminster’s Committee on Standards, with a cap on extra earnings labelled as “impractical”.
Boris Johnson announced last year that he wanted to clamp down on MPs holding second jobs as paid political lobbyists or prioritising other interests over their constituents.
It came after the Tories were dragged into a protracted sleaze scandal in November, after the government tried to get ex-MP Owen Paterson off the hook for breaking parliamentary rules on lobbying.
Some ministers at the time, including deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, said the amount MPs can get paid outside parliament could be capped.
The government has said any reforms need to be agreed on a cross-party basis.
A spokesperson for Number 10 said: “It’s certainly true at the time of this issue that a number of options were considered by ministers and proposed by others as well. We set out the government position at the time.
“Placing limits on outside interests … such as doctors and nurses and setting limits on income … could prevent MPs’ ability to engage with the public.”
The government’s submission to the standards committee. as reported by The Guardian, read: “It is the government’s initial view that the imposition of fixed constraints such as time limits on the amount of time that Members can spend on outside work would be impractical.
“The imposition of time limits would not necessarily serve to address recent concerns over paid advocacy and the primary duty of MPs to serve their constituents. It could be possible, for example, for a Member to conduct work within the accepted time limits but that does not necessarily mean such work is ‘appropriate’ even if it did not constitute ‘paid advocacy’.”