THREAD. It's clearly popular short-term posturing, and holds a degree of moral weight. But rejecting a pay rise won't make our politics more effective, or our democracy more durable. 1/6 https://twitter.com/RichardBurgon/status/1314850608936087552

1) MPs are underpaid. An *independent body* has determined this. A look at other comparable democracies also suggests our political system as a whole is underfunded. How is this positive?

While pay ought not to be a draw for politics, it really isn't to be celebrated that many UK politicians take a pay cut to go into it - some of whom just then happen to find themselves lucrative (and occasionally compromising) second gigs.

2) Why do we object to gutting local gov funding, but cheer MPs being underpaid? It's not an original observation: the calibre of this parliament is possibly the worst ever. This isn't about elitism - class is no determiner of ability - but having capable politicians matters...

... Brexit/Covid are obvious cases in point. A state incapable of solving people's problems is to me a more compelling explanation for declining trust than MPs' pay. So, MPs shouldn't play into a narrative that encourages public servants to be under-resourced.

3) MPs' pay should not be seen as a trade-off with insecure workers - a pay rise for one does not preclude a pay rise for the other, or make you a weaker advocate for it. This juxtaposition is unhelpful for our politics, and little more than grandstanding. https://twitter.com/zarahsultana/status/1314625146985086976?s=20