PAYING THE PRICE OF DEMOCRACY

27-10-2007

Politicians came in for predictable flak when their latest expense details were published this week - not least West Midlands Minister Liam Byrne who was the second biggest spender in the Commons. But isn't there a price to be paid for democracy?

Byrne himself thinks so. When The Stirrer caught up with him, he was unfazed by the controversy and told us, "When I was elected I promised to stay in touch with my constituents and I intend to honour that pledge.

"Parliament provides this service which MPs can use to serve the people who pay their wages. We have a lot of work to do in Hodge Hill and I have no problem with using this service on behalf of my constituents.

"They deserve the best and I intend to give it to them."

No apology there then - and nor, in our opinion, should there be. Byrne's expenses ran to £178,000 of which 40 grand was stationery - but the lion's share was actually was paying staff salaries, a whopping £88,000.

Aaah, so it's the MP's mates and fellow travellers who are riding the gravy train? Not quite. Junior secretaries and researcher salaries start at less than £14,000 while caseworkers can earn as little as £13,082.

As Dan Whittle, chair of the parliamentary branch of the union Unite observed, "MP's staff are the first point of contact for constituents in desperate need of help in complex situations, for example immigration, child support agency and tax credit problems.

"The internet and email have added to the workload, and constituents' expectations have risen. The pressure is growing on MPs staff and this is not always reflected in the pay and conditions they receive."

In other words, if you want your MP to actually do something on your behalf, chances are he or she won't have time to do it all themselves - so they'll have to employ someone else to do it for them. That's because, amazingly, people won't work for nothing.

Grumble all your like about Liam Byrne's paper clips - but don't knock the hundreds of good people who work for him and others like him. They are part of the price to be paid for democracy, and without them we would all much poorer.

See The Stirrer's league table of local MP's expense here