Whilst workers suffer under Tory austerity, those in Parliament are being rewarded with a pay rise. Instead of careerists, we need elected representatives who will be determined fighters for the working class.
It was recently announced that MPs will receive a 2.7% wage increase, raising their basic salary from £77,379 to £79,468. This news will have gone down like a lead balloon with many workers.
Whilst those in Parliament are getting a pay rise, millions of families are barely scraping by; benefits remain frozen; and millions more face an uncertain future with Brexit.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union, called the rise “an outrage”. The trade union leader noted that MPs are being rewarded for the current political crisis, “while civil servants, who do some of the most vital jobs in society, are still subject to a cruel 1% de-facto pay cap”. Staff in the House of Commons, meanwhile, have received just 1.5%.
Under the spotlight
Marxists in the Labour Party have long argued that MP’s lifestyles and income mean that they are removed from the problems faced by working people. Now more than ever, with Brexit and the ongoing civil war within the Labour Party, MPs are under the spotlight.
The flood of new members into the Labour Party over the last few years, coupled with the antics of the Labour right wing, has provoked an important debate around the accountability of MPs.
MPs certainly now face far more scrutiny from party members. This no doubt explains why a group of former Labour MPs have decided to jump ship and form the so-called ‘Independent Group’. Indeed, a number of these MPs had lost no confidence votes in their constituencies.
MP’s wage levels aren’t a secondary question. Marxists in the Labour Party have consistently advocated that the lifestyles of Labour MPs should reflect that of the people they are elected to represent. This means they should only take the wages of a skilled worker, plus reasonable expenses. Any excess should be donated back into the Labour movement.
This is no mere sloganising. Three Marxist Labour MPs did precisely this in the 1980s.
Out of touch
Labour MPs should be accountable to the movement and to the working class. For many years Blair’s New Labour project sought to separate the Labour Party from the organised working class.
This was particularly the case amongst those in the Parliamentary Labour Party, who were (and still are, in many cases) completely out of touch with those who they were supposed to represent.
Slick New Labour carrerist candidates were parachuted into constituencies, despite having no real connection with the traditions or politics of the working class or the local area.
This has been clearly illustrated over the last few years, with the Blairites increasingly coming into conflict with the party membership.
Kick out the careerists!
For the first time in many years, the possibility exists of democratising the party and turning it into an effective weapon in the hands of the working class.
Part of this transformation of the party will be to elect MPs who genuinely reflect the interests of the working class and the labour movement. This means that all MPs must face mandatory reselection.
But also – and perhaps more importantly – they should put themselves on the same footing as the workers that they represent. Representing the Labour Party as an MP should be seen as a privilege, not as a step up the career ladder.
Far from ‘reducing the potential pool of talent’ as right-wing critics have suggested, standing on a worker’s wage would attract the most self-sacrificing and committed representatives.
Labour needs genuine class fighters who are prepared to fight to the end in the interests of workers and youth.
- For mandatory reselection!
- For workers’ MPs on a worker’s wage!
- Labour to power on a socialist programme!
