Sir Ian Kennedy’s speech on MPs’ pay

The Chair of IPSA, Sir Ian Kennedy, gave a speech at the IPPR this morning on MPs’ pay.  Here’s what he said:

There’s never a good time to do anything about MPs’ pay. The pressing issues of the moment always make it a bad time.

This is the sad history of attempts to introduce changes in the way MPs are remunerated. It’s a history that goes back centuries. It’s a history punctuated from time to time by some long overdue catch-up or some kind of fix.

There was even a time during the Middle Ages when each community paid its own MP. A number of cunning plans emerged – some communities paid their MPs in fish or local produce so as not to have to find the money.

And, of course, there was always the subtext: should MPs be paid at all. In 1839, the Chartists made pay for MPs one of their six ‘key points’.