Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parliament

[Always_a_Civvy]

I know how we can save the defence budget... by making cuts elsewhere.

Sell of the Houses of Parliament. Would make a lovely hotel. Build a new parliament on the outskirts of Birmingham, but don't fund it properly so they have to share rooms. Would save a fortune in housing costs for MPs. Then slash MPs pensions. Also scrape their allowances to buy property, and say, give them a loan of £8,5000 instead.
Only pay enough travel to go home every couple of weekends. Give cabinet ministers old landrovers and say that they will be safe from terrorists. Mmmm.

Or... instead of moving them to Birmingham, put them up in an old MOD base. Let them share accommodation, and keep saying, "We were going to build all new blocks, but the government has only funded enough for half of you."

 

[andym]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

pay MP's and Civil Servants Mimimum wage!

 

[Nutty]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

Andy

Th current remuneration and pensions plus allowances are considered by MP's and Civil Servants to be the very least they could receive and they feel undervalued

 

[FlagWagger]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

Andy

Th current remuneration and pensions plus allowances are considered by MP's and Civil Servants to be the very least they could receive and they feel undervalued

I'm sorry, my heart bleeds etc. I wish I caould tell my employer how much to pay me without any further reference to the employer's feelings or views. MPs are public servants and their remuneration comes out of our pockets - we're paying them, its about time we had a say in what is fair. The minimum wage would be a good start, and then they can try and get additional money out of the benefits system too - lets see them live within the systems they've created for the rest of us!

 

[slim]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

As far as I'm concerned there is no shortage of volunteers when it comes to standing for parliament. Reduce the pay of backbenchers, make ALL allowances receipt-able, do not allow them to employ family so nepotism is stopped. Perhaps then we would get MPs who really want to serve the electorate and not their own ends

 

[mazza_magoo]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

As i see it the way this country (or any other for that matter) should be run is like any very large company, and we are all shareholders or investors in that company. Now if the board of directors CEO etc of that company isn't performing well enough, surely they should be sacked. Or at least imprisoned for misappropriation of company funds (see John Prescott et al)
:wink:

MM

 

[Maxi_77]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

As far as I'm concerned there is no shortage of volunteers when it comes to standing for parliament. Reduce the pay of backbenchers, make ALL allowances receipt-able, do not allow them to employ family so nepotism is stopped. Perhaps then we would get MPs who really want to serve the electorate and not their own ends

That's how it used to be, which is why for example Churchill wrote so many books and did so many lecture tours, parliamentary pay was not that good and he wanted to live well. The current concept of a good wage for MPs came in ater WW2 so that one did not need either an other job or a private income to be able to afford to be an MP.

Mind you these days I would be quite happy to get both and MPs salary and their pension, so perhaps we have gone too far.

Peter

 

[Always_a_Civvy]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

Plato had the right idea in his Republic. He posited that rule should be by philosopher kings (we could translate that these days into Nutty and myself with Rosina as Lord Chancellor and Andy as Chief of Administering Cuts - in waste that is). These philosopher kings receive ONLY what the citizens give them: food, accomodation, etc.

We'd all be benevolent rulers of course and introduce the World's first Liberal Fundamentalist Regime and reintroduce the Rum Ration and all its associated customs! Remuneration would follow the example of the Faeroe Islands - everyone would be adequately provided for, there would be a welfare state and conscription into either fishing and fish processing or the forces, depending upon your moral (or criminal) convictions. The genuinely disabled would be properly provided for (unlike as at present) and the employability challenged would be allocated the jobs other people don't want to do in return for their benefits.

Last but not least, all our old historic naval bases would reopen and certain former ships would be listed as Sites of Special Historic Interest (SSHIs) and lovingly preserved for the Nation, beginning with...

 

[Always_a_Civvy]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

As far as I'm concerned there is no shortage of volunteers when it comes to standing for parliament. Reduce the pay of backbenchers, make ALL allowances receipt-able, do not allow them to employ family so nepotism is stopped. Perhaps then we would get MPs who really want to serve the electorate and not their own ends

According to the supposedly Iron Laws of Economics... when you have too many people chasing a job you reduce the remuneration until you start having recruiting problems, then raise it to a level when you just attract suitable candidates.

 

[andym]

Re: Stumpy's Naval Base savings plan... Sell off Parlia

Andy

Th current remuneration and pensions plus allowances are considered by MP's and Civil Servants to be the very least they could receive and they feel undervalued

i wonder who decided it was thus???The MP's themselves mayhap?