Should MPs be allowed a side hustle?

I would have no objection if an MP had a part time job. Especially good if it was useful to society and a desire to ‘understand the lives of their constituents ‘ but the trouble is MPs ‘jobs’ are usually involved with wealthy people, tax ( avoidance) schemes and big money, not everyday average pay jobs which the woman or man in the street do.

Iam64

No they shouldn’t have other work. My view is being an MP is a full time job. I’d pay them more, something in the region head teachers of big schools get. £130-£150,000.
If doctors (for example) want to do some nhs work and maintain skill, they donate the pay, or work on a voluntary basis.
We do not need MP’s being given money in brown envelopes or it’s virtual equivalent

I agree completely.

Yes, I think they should, for a number of reasons

1) It makes it easier to return to previous professions when they lose their seats. Who is going to employ a consultant surgeon who hasn't been near a hospital for 10 years or a teacher who hasn't been near a classroom?

2) It keeps them in contact with ordinary working people at all levels, whether in manufacturring, hospitality, academia or manu facturing.

However

I think there should be a limit to much time they can devote to this work - not more than 10 hours a week and their earnings from other work should not exceed how much they earn as an MP.

The danger if some MPs can not keep a side line going, to keep their professional skills up to date is that we will end up with more and more MPs whose whole life is politics from a very young age, they have no work experience, no professional training and no contact with us ordinary voters, our lives and our problems, can have no real understanding of the problems of their constituents.

Absolutely not. I notice they are overwhelmingly Conservative MPs who have second jobs. I wonder if their constituents think they are doing an adequate job for them. Personally I think they should be voted out.
Snouts ìn troughs.

Back in the seventies I worked for a firm that had some MP clients (including a former Home Secretary) and used to prepare their tax returns. This included preparing statements of their expense claims for insertion on their returns and the allowances were also included. This meant that they would be taxed on any excess of the allowances and similarly get tax relief for any excess of expenses.

Whether this happens now I don't know.

Iam64

No they shouldn’t have other work. My view is being an MP is a full time job. I’d pay them more, something in the region head teachers of big schools get. £130-£150,000.
If doctors (for example) want to do some nhs work and maintain skill, they donate the pay, or work on a voluntary basis.
We do not need MP’s being given money in brown envelopes or it’s virtual equivalent

i doubt that many of them work the long hours that many teachers and doctors do. Sir Geoffrey Cox has just recorded that he works 41 hours per week as a barrister. Doesn't leave much time for constituency work (in Devon) and to appear on the H of C occasionally.

I hope the idiots who voted him in are proud of themselves and happy with their “investment” ?

I thought he spent a month there during lockdown. Is he still there ?

Geoffrey Cox is living full time in the Caribbean providing extraordinary lucrative legal services to tax avoiders etc.

He has attended only 1 debate.

PippaZ

I must admit I wonder how anyone can do their first job - being an MP, when someone else is paying several times as much for a small part of their time.

That would tell me that it is not their time that's being paid for but their expertise and contacts.

In many cases I suspect they are paid for their name alone plus the magic letters MP on the letter heading.
Cynical, moi?

I must admit I wonder how anyone can do their first job - being an MP, when someone else is paying several times as much for a small part of their time.

That would tell me that it is not their time that's being paid for but their expertise and contacts.

Is that an alternative phrase for “another job” ?
Don’t we have a comprehensive thread on that already? (Started by CarlyD on 5 November)

There are always ways and means for the well off to "lose" money so that it doesnt come to light.
Even the expenses are ridiculously high, despite the controversy a few years ago.
A higher wage, a limit on expenses, and no extras, I think.

I think also those MPs with criminal records should be banned from being an MP. Let’s clear out all the sleaze, from all sides. As for saying media appearance money should be donated,no, that’s a bit too far, as long as it’s declared. We all like to earn a bit extra don’t we.

I think they should have to declare every penny of income to an independent committee, and if the source of it is deemed a conflict of interest (eg giving advice to business about things that are impacted by government policies) they should be banned from continuing for as long as they are an MP.

They should also declare how much they earn from all sources, as well as how many hours a week they spend on their other jobs, and this information should be made clear (with suitable privacy in place) to both their constituents and HMRC. I don't think that a cumulative total of more than 16 hours a week should usually be sanctioned, as more than this could be a different kind of conflict of interest (ie should they spend 20 hours helping the people they represent, or doing whatever it is for an employer?)

I suppose that things like writing a book could be assumed to be done in their own time, and media appearances are probably part of the job if they are on programmes such as Question Time or the Today programme, but appearance fees should go either to their party funds or maybe to a charity nominated by The Speaker or someone that changes on a regular basis.

Basically, I think that there should be transparency and as few opportunities for corruption as possible, with serious penalties for those who break the rules.

No they shouldn’t have other work. My view is being an MP is a full time job. I’d pay them more, something in the region head teachers of big schools get. £130-£150,000.
If doctors (for example) want to do some nhs work and maintain skill, they donate the pay, or work on a voluntary basis.
We do not need MP’s being given money in brown envelopes or it’s virtual equivalent