LETTER: MPs' salaries: market forces, professional parity and job cuts

From Mr Robert Lyons

Sir: It is difficult to be unsympathetic to Members of Parliament who seek an improvement in pay: who does not? However, others are required to show an improvement in productivity before their aspirations can be met.

Should not MPs be faced with the same criteria? The House of Commons is clearly over-manned: we pay for 651 MPs where the US House of Representatives manages with 435. Let them be offered the simple alternative: reduce your number by one third in return for a 50 per cent increase in salary.

The House would operate more efficiently: no longer would the chamber be unable to seat the full membership for important debates; no longer would office accommodation in the Palace of Westminster be inadequate.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Lyons

London, W1

15 January