Annual MP Pay Review

It's that time of year where it's getting colder and darker for longer. Fun fact: here in Yorkshire you're not permitted to put your heating on before October. So this week saw me putting the heating on for the first time in awhile. This week also saw the annual MP pay rise - sorry, pay review while millions are facing redundancy, uncertainty and hardship. 

'Compassionate Conservatives' was a falsehood cooked up by David Cameron as a vacuous attempt to rebrand the party and the idea would be laughable if it wasn't a cruel taunt to all those suffering as a direct result of tory policies such as austerity. 

There's no compassion in voting to take £30 per week from some of the most vulnerable in society - the sick and disabled. There certainly was no compassion on display when the tories cheered and whooped in the House of Commons after voting down a pay rise for nurses in 2017. More recently, Boris Johnson's government was forced into a U-turn over his party's cynical proposal to withdraw the free school meal voucher scheme during the summer holidays. These are just to name a few examples of times the conservatives have been bereft of compassion. 

Back to the pay rise, one the one hand we have millionaire and billionaire MPs who are set to receive an eye watering, inflation busting £3,000 extra a year. While I can't speak for others, I've never seen or held three grand in cash before. Do not be fooled though, this is merely pocket change to these people. On the other hand millions are facing unemployment and this callous bunch of asset strippers are still pressing ahead with plans to scrap the desperately needed £1k a year Universal Credit uplift which will plunge millions into significant hardship and poverty. 

This isn't some report, this is my own experience. The basic welfare rate was frozen at £73 per week in 2016 for four years while the cost of living continued to spiral. I found myself unemployed at the beginning of this year, and I've lived on the amount claimants got before the uplift. After deductions to my UC for the advance and rent, I was left with £150-£200 a month to live on. To buy food, pay bills, debts, pay for gas & electricity and travel. 

It was an impossible situation to be in. The water bill alone was 1/3 of my entire monthly income. I found myself turning to food banks for the first time, going days without food and utilities. Walking miles on an empty stomach to pawn what little items I have to get some food for a bit. It was no lavish lifestyle at all.

Which brings us to the announcement. In early 2020, four years after the freeze was first imposed, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a desperately needed £20 a week (£1,040 a year) uplift for universal credit claimants. The timing of the announcement was crucial. It was in the months following an election win, the virus was spreading and we were on the brink of national lockdown. When the government knew that millions of jobs in their voting base would be at risk.

That being said, the rise was desperately needed, I can attest to that personally. But here's the gut clenching part; for the last four years consecutive conservative governments have been happy to let the unemployed, disabled and sick languish in poverty but the moment their voters are at risk of unemployment they take action. This has largely gone unchecked by the media as the disabled, sick and unemployed aren't deemed as 'deserving'. 

At the time of the announcement they also said that the rise would be for 12 months only, from April 2020-21. This is based on the idea that the economy will bounce back and their voting base who do lose their jobs will be back in employment within a year. Since then Sunak has told musicians and artists to "get a job elsewhere" and told everyone that the jobs market will be different as we emerge from the pandemic. Take from that what you will.

The conservatives like to say that 'work pays' but millions of workers are facing uncertainty and hardship too. Over 700,000 jobs have already been lost to the pandemic and resulting lockdown. That number is set to skyrocket to levels last seen in the '80s under Thatcher. There's a direct correlation between the Conservatives being power and unemployment going up. Sadly, many ordinary workers are about to discover that the safety net of welfare is but a myth after ten years of destruction by the very Tories they voted for. Hard up workers who are already struggling to make ends meet while in employment will be pushed into further hardship and suffering too, through no fault of their own, only this shambolic conservative government.

Those on legacy welfare such as ESA did not receive any additional help at all during the pandemic, despite many of them having to shield. This is because those who lose their jobs as a result of the pandemic will not end up on legacy welfare and it speaks volumes about the contempt the Tories hold for the disabled and unemployed.

Under the conservative government's Job Retention Scheme, hard up workers will see a cut in their pay packet as the support is less than the furlough rate of 80%. This raises deep concerns for the low paid. People on minimum wage can't afford to live on 2/3 of their salary. If they could it wouldn't be called minimum wage. It's a very simple concept; the level is set at the minimum wage needed to survive in the UK. The conservative government know this, they simply do not care though.

In unrelated news France and Germany are extending their furlough schemes until the end of 2021 and in France those on minimum wage will receive 100% of their salary. 

In the wake of the expenses scandal an independent comittee was set up to perform the MP pay review. So while

MPs do not oversee their salary review, they do set the welfare / SSP rate (Statutory Sick Pay) they do set the minimum wage and they are in charge of public sector pay. 

As millions face uncertainty and hardship in the coming months / years, some MPs are saying they'll refuse the pay rise or donate it to charity. This is not enough. They need to vote for public sector pay rises, vote against welfare cuts. 

To put things into perspective, while those on welfare and in the public sector have seen a real terms pay cut over the last five years, MPs have seen a £15k pay rise. This is on top of their expenses, on top of their subsidised bar and restaurant. Now they're looking at an additional £3,000 a year. The inequality is beyond sick. To rub salt in the wound, many MPs are richer than you can imagine. Many are millionaires and there's even a few billionaires in the mix so it's not like they need this pay rise. 

If there's no money to fund the additional UC lift or to give public sector staff a proper, real terms pay rise then there's no money for a wage rise for MPs. Simples. 

Some of you have read my previous blog post Universally Screwed and may want an update on my personal circumstances after being royally screwed over by the DWP. The last three weeks have been a constant battle to keep gas, electricity and food available. I've been living on a day to day basis, rationing my use of utilities and wrapping up as the weather has gotten colder. It's been an emotionally draining few weeks, there's been tears, sleep deprivation and self loathing.

It's now just three days from payday and it can't come quick enough. It's been a long and tiring month and the fuels are about to run out again, cupboards and fridge are bare. I've seen my statement and can confirm they're not screwing me over this month which is good news I guess. The heating is off right now in a vain attempt to conserve the meagre emergency credit I've got left on the gas and I can feel the cold in my extremities as I type this. 

On the job front I've still been applying for jobs and had one email response (my phone is still broke). I've emailed them back and the Job Centre have asked me to buy a phone when I get paid in a few days which is utterly laughable. 

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