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07th Oct 2021

Tory MP slammed for saying living on £82,000 salary is ‘really grim’

Kieran Galpin

Sir Peter

This Tory MP might need to buy a book with his already substantial salary

Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley, the longest-serving MP in the house of commons, has been criticised for saying that MPs find it “really grim” to live on a salary of just £82,000.

This enormous salary does not include expenses and perks, but the Worthing West MP is insistent that the amount should be higher, reports the New Statesman.

Bottomley is very much on board for a 22 per cent pay increase and believes MPs should be on at least £100,000 a year.

This has angered an enormous amount of people considering the NHS received a 3 per cent pay rise this year, and the Tory government scrapped the Universal Credit increase yesterday.

“I take the view that being an MP is the greatest honour you could have, but a general practitioner in politics ought to be paid roughly the same as a general practitioner in medicine,” Said Bottomley, who seems to think his contribution is equal to or more than UK doctors.

“Doctors are paid far too little nowadays. But if they would get roughly £100,000 a year, the equivalent for an MP to get the same standard of living would be £110-£115,000 a year.”

He continues to say that if your MP isn’t worth the money, then you should change MP.

Bottomley isn’t as selfish as you might think, though, as he says it is the younger MPs who find it “desperately difficult” to live on.

“I don’t know how they manage. It’s really grim,” said the 77-year-old.

People are not happy with the MP, with author James Felton saying: “Christ imagine whining about that after voting to not feed vulnerable kids at Christmas.”

Another person tweeted: “Dear Sir Peter Bottomly, I lack sufficient middle fingers to adequately respond to your request for a £18k payrise on top of your £82k salary.”

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