28.03.2002

Sheridan condemns MSPs' pay hypocrisy

Tommy Sheridan, convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party, last week adopted a principled stand in contrast to the self-seeking careerists of the Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National parties. Eighty-nine members of the Scottish parliament voted to award themselves a generous, inflation-busting 13.5 % pay increase, as recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body. Only 15 MSPs voted against the SSRB's recommendations while another 15 abstained. Comrade Sheridan, the SSP's only elected member, told a BBC news reporter that he thought MSPs were disgracefully overpaid and were not worth their present salaries, never mind this latest £6,000 increase. He pointed out that 95% of Scottish workers had to survive on a damn sight less than the £48,000 a year currently on offer. Tommy argued that no MSP was worth more than double the pay of a nurse or a teacher and that they should think long and hard about who they were representing in the Scottish parliament and why. There are far too many working people having to accept poverty wages and oppressive working conditions, far too many pensioners living on less than 20% of an MSP's salary, far too many students forced into debt in order to fund their education. Priority should go to solving the social and economic problems of the poorest in society, not putting MSPs into the top three percent of Scottish earners. Condemning this latest example of unparalleled profligacy, he insisted that all MSPs should adopt the policy of the SSP and live on the national average wage of a skilled worker - around £20,000 a year. Tommy, in line with this principle, takes only half of his current MSP's salary and donates the rest to the Scottish Socialist Party. Comrade Sheridan highlighted the case of ScotRail workers who have been hypocritically told by Jack McConnell, the first minister, to accept an insulting three percent pay and conditions 'offer', tighten their belts and get back to work. He mentioned that nurses were forced to accept a 3.7% rise last year and a 3.6% rise this year, condemning the total disregard and contempt that certain MSPs had for the working class in Scotland. By accepting this salary hike, MSPs have confirmed to our class that politicians both in Edinburgh and Westminster, with breathtaking arrogance and complete insensitivity, are looking after their own interests and feathering their own nests, while telling the rest of us that we have to accept tough choices in our daily lives and workplaces. Margo Macdonald (SNP), whose policy is to seek pay parity with Westminster MPs, accused comrade Sheridan of gesture politics and stupidly suggested that it was too late for MSPs to do anything about this massive increase: they should accept the pay hike and make their protests at the next pay negotiations. The problem here, Margo, is that the SSRB has now linked MSPs' pay to 87.5% of Westminster salaries and there will be no future negotiations, only more pay awards (massive increases). On this particular issue the SSP is much more in tune with the population than the other parties. This was clearly demonstrated in a television phone-in, where 99% of the callers (4,779) said MSPs should get no rise at all. (Sir) David Steel, parliament's presiding officer, tried to explain this away by means of an absurd comparison with the first democratic elections in South Africa: after the fall of apartheid, "expectations of what the new form of governance would mean were unrealistically high" - just like in Scotland. Steel thought 13.5% was far too modest. He called for a 20% increase in recognition that MSPs are "more efficient" than Westminster MPs and "most are also often out at constituency engagements in the evenings" (Scotland on Sunday March 24). Comrade Sheridan has shown through his own practice that his stance is far more than a "gesture". By contrast bourgeois politicians are justifiably regarded as arrogantly out of touch with the people they claim to represent - voters are admonished if their "expectations" are too "high". Yet the pay furore highlights the whole question of democratic accountability. The SSP should press home its advantage in this area and stress the demand for annual parliaments and complete recallability of all MSPs, MPs, MEPs and councillors. Hopefully, in next year's Scottish parliament elections workers will put into office a whole batch of SSP MSPs who, like comrade Sheridan, are prepared to challenge the 'pigs at the trough' approach. Tommy must be congratulated for his continued attack on the greed and effrontery of his counterparts in the cosy confines of the Scottish parliament, and his insistence that this should be contrasted to the real world of working class wages, intolerable levels of poverty and unacceptable widespread deprivation. The SSP must build on the condemnation, disbelief and disgust being levelled at the Scottish parliament. Surely the lesson of this latest example of bourgeois self-indulgence will not be lost - elected members need the people more than the people need them. Ronnie Mejka