Iain Duncan Smith kicked this week off with a claim that obviously he could live on 53 pounds a week. Come on, once you've taken advantage of the subsidised food and drink at Parliament, rented out a few of your eight spare rooms and flogged a few family heirlooms you're laughing all the way to the bank. Oddly, he's been reluctant to prove his claim, no matter how many people sign their names to say they think it's a good idea. And it's not as if he'd be the first - Matthew Parris famously tried and failed to live on 26.80 pounds in the '80s. Perhaps IDS was making an ill-thought out April Fool's joke and is too embarrassed to own up. Or maybe he's right and it would only be a 'stunt' to live on the same amount as some of his constituents for a limited amount of time. That got us thinking - obviously these kind of restrictions would need to be implemented for as long as an MP is in power. So if we could set some new rules for politicians, what would they be?
1. All elected representatives of the public (MPs, Senators/Members of Congress/whatever applies in your country) should be paid a maximum salary equivalent to the average income in their constituency. How can someone pulling in six figures have a realistic understanding of how everyone else copes on a daily basis? I'd also quite like to see politicians actually living in their constituency. I can see this would be considerably harder to pull off in the States - that Homer to DC commute is a total bitch - but in England there's no reason why you can't base yourself in Darlington and travel down to London when needed. After all, loads of your electorate do so when the job calls for it, and not many MPs have a daily reason to be in Westminster... F1Kate
2. I would like Iain Duncan Smith to start paying tax on all the spare rooms in his house or if that is too much of a burden for him maybe he could start renting them out and take up a second highly taxed job as a landlord. Squeamish Nicola
3. MPs cannot propose or vote in favour of punitive laws or benefit changes that won't affect them (or against laws that increase equality) unless they first manage to complete the Ninja Warrior assault cause. Gareth
4. Oh, good grief I'd ban that annoying fake laughing they all do in PMQs. Or, indeed, from making any noise other than proper utterances during PMQs. Although they may from now on high five. I'm not a monster. Squeamish Kate
5. I'd love to see an end to professional politicians - people who study politics at University, join the upper echelons of the Student Union, and then walk into parliamentary politics. I'm not anti specialisation, and I can see the value in having MPs with a deep understanding of politics, but how can you represent a cross-section of people if you have never lived outside of a very particular bubble? A requirement of at least 5 years doing something else, whether that's caring for someone, paid work, volunteering or bringing up a family might mean that we had a wider range of views. And being forced to spend some time in their recess (don't get me started on that) working or volunteering in their constituency might be a good idea too. Squeamish Louise
2. I would like Iain Duncan Smith to start paying tax on all the spare rooms in his house or if that is too much of a burden for him maybe he could start renting them out and take up a second highly taxed job as a landlord. Squeamish Nicola
3. MPs cannot propose or vote in favour of punitive laws or benefit changes that won't affect them (or against laws that increase equality) unless they first manage to complete the Ninja Warrior assault cause. Gareth
4. Oh, good grief I'd ban that annoying fake laughing they all do in PMQs. Or, indeed, from making any noise other than proper utterances during PMQs. Although they may from now on high five. I'm not a monster. Squeamish Kate
5. I'd love to see an end to professional politicians - people who study politics at University, join the upper echelons of the Student Union, and then walk into parliamentary politics. I'm not anti specialisation, and I can see the value in having MPs with a deep understanding of politics, but how can you represent a cross-section of people if you have never lived outside of a very particular bubble? A requirement of at least 5 years doing something else, whether that's caring for someone, paid work, volunteering or bringing up a family might mean that we had a wider range of views. And being forced to spend some time in their recess (don't get me started on that) working or volunteering in their constituency might be a good idea too. Squeamish Louise
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