MPs Salaries - Gale will donate rise to Charity

North Thanet's MP, Roger Gale, has this (Friday 5th March) morning indicated that he will donate the salary increase awarded to Members of Parliament by the Senior Salaries Review Body to charity.

Speaking in Thanet this morning the MP said:

"I have written to the House of Commons Department of Finance & Administration and asked them to pay any increase by which I would benefit to charity through the Give As You Earn Scheme.

In 1985, when MPs were awarded an inflation plus increase I indicated that I would do this and that money has been paid to into GAYE ever since. As a result, local and national charities have benefited, over the years, to the tune of several thousands of pounds. I propose to do likewise with this increase.

I regard the manner in which MPs handle this as a matter for the individual and I do not wish to impose my views on any parliamentary colleague of any party: people's circumstances differ and many MPs, particularly those with young families and including those who will be elected at the forthcoming general election, are going to face very straitened circumstances.

As a result of the more eccentric of the Kelly proposals, which in my view have demonstrated a lamentable lack of understanding of the demands placed upon today's Members of Parliament, a lot of new MPs are going to find it hard to find the resources to do the job in the way that the public have come to expect. They will need the entirety of their salaries to subsidise their office, travel and other costs incurred in the course of their work. Those of us who are older and whose families are now adult are in a more fortunate position. We have no right, therefore, to seek to impose our own decisions upon others."