Long serving MP says ‘desperately difficult’ salary should be increased

The longest-serving MP in the Commons Sir Peter Bottomley, has said that some MPs find it “really grim” to live on a salary of £82,000.

Sir Bottomley, who was elected as the Conservative MP for Worthing West in 1997 told the New Statesman that MP’s annual salaries should be increased to the same amount as GPs- about £100,000 in England.

He said: “I take the view that being an MP is the greatest honour you could have, but a general practitioner in politics ought to be paid roughly the same as a general practitioner in medicine.

“Doctors are paid far too little nowadays. But if they would get roughly £100,000 a year, the equivalent for an MP to get the same standard of living would be £110-£115,000 a year.

“It’s never the right time, but if your MP isn’t worth the money, it’s better to change the MP than to change the money.”

He added that he thought the situation was “desperately difficult” for newer MPs.