[Sussex] Definetly No Linux Thread here

[Mark Harrison]

Geoff,

Thank you for a thought-provoking piece. I fully agree with most of it.

However, your contention below is something I'd like to challenge. It may well be that you are right, but I think that the subject needs a Devil's advocate:

"Furthermore.  Anyone entering parliament should be explicitly banned from holding shares in any company.  They should not be allowed to recieve gifts of _any_ value from companies - they are well paid to be in parliament (and I would expect them to actually _be_ in parliament) and our servants of our nation, not of big businesses."

This is where I disagree. Let us examine the question a little more closely. I will focus on the figures surrounding "MPs" rather than ministers because there are more of them.

An MP is paid a salary of £55,118. They pay NI and Tax at normal rates on this (albeit with a pension scheme more generous than most of us get.)

There will be a number of people on this list who consider this salary "very high." However, there will be a number who consider it not to be so. The important comparison is with alternative jobs that a prospective parlimentarian might consider.

I would suggest that a good premise is that we would like our brightest, most able people, to choose a path of public service, since that will lead to intelligent government.

A high-flyer in finance can earn a 6-figure income in his/her 20s.
A high-flyer in retail can earn a 6-figure income in his/her 30s.
A high-flyer in construction can earn a 6-figure income in his/her 40s.
A high-flyer in government would only be able to aspire to that after many years as an MP.

Yes, this MAY lead to people only joining government if they have a true spirit of service. More likely, I fear, is that only those with an ulterior motive would be attracted. And worse, the most capable people of their generation ARE not incentivised to enter public service.

Mark