As also a non-UK European, I don't care. Stay in or stay out. Stop bitching about what needs to be fixed. I'm not wholly heartless, so I would be OK with the UK rejoining if they wanted to.
As a Brit, or should I say English since it seems at least Scotland doesn't wanna be part of UK anymore if given a choice, it seems to me that talking about rejoining the EU, as though the EU countries will just say "welcome back" after the UK has basically "acted like a d*ck" for most of the time inside the EU, shows precisely the kind of arrogance and feeling of superiority that caused the Brexit mess in the first place. Maybe in 25 yrs time perhaps our country / collection of countries/ whatever the UK looks like by then, might be humbled enough to be seen as a helpful partner within the EU....
You’re right around public opinion but I think the approach is correct.
I remember reading a study showing clear correlation between politicians salary and corruption levels.
We need better people doing the job and when they get there they need to not be persuadable away from either their values or the work they are being paid to do because of money.
Their values are money. You don't go to Eton, become a Tory MP and work for your constituency. You get there to gain influence and power that you can peddle to anyone willing to give you money.
The ability to shift and sell public services to people for favours, donations and cash is part of their system, not a flaw that would be eradicated by another 50k
We need to raise MPs pay higher than that, and cover it via a hypothecated levy on UK firms and partners that is a percentage of what they pay their executives.
That way the more firms pay their top people, the more MPs get paid.
In exchange MPs should be barred from such jobs for a period after leaving office - golden handcuffs.
MPs are running the country. They should be paid more than a mere corporate executive.
> cover it via a hypothecated levy on UK firms and partners that is a percentage of what they pay their executives.
That'll just lead to more executives being paid £1 pa and then getting the rest in stock / image rights / whatevers.
It's like Sagan said - "To pay MPs more, first you must invent a functioning tax system."
> In exchange MPs should be barred from such jobs for a period after leaving office
Currently I believe they're barred from jobs in sectors where they've had any influence, decision making, etc. but as a quick glance at pretty much any Private Eye of the last decade will highlight, that means nothing.
> MPs are running the country. They should be paid more than a mere corporate executive.
If the first sentence were true, I'd (maybe) agree with the second. But the current bunch aren't running the country, they're chasing the right wing vote whilst feathering their own nests.
Don’t try and re-invent the wheel. Copy what successful countries in Europe already does. For example, Germany is a great example when it comes to creating a strong export industry. Finland is a great example of how to create a world class education system.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 50.6 ms ] threadcut university places vs free edication for all
ban foreign home-owners vs radical investment in high quality social housing
drop H2 vs super tax on luxury cars
wage cuts vs national net profit cap of 10M
and that's just for starters ;)
But, tl;dr Tories are gonna Tory.
I was pleasantly surprised at the sanity of the suggestions, especially in a Murdoch rag, until I came to ...
> My last proposal: raise MPs’ pay by 50 per cent at the next election.
Yeah, you're going to have a hard job convincing people having to budget how many eggs they can afford that MPs should get an extra £43k a year.
> The calibre of too many politicians is shockingly poor.
Many of those previously celebrated and pushed by Murdoch papers...
I remember reading a study showing clear correlation between politicians salary and corruption levels.
We need better people doing the job and when they get there they need to not be persuadable away from either their values or the work they are being paid to do because of money.
That way the more firms pay their top people, the more MPs get paid.
In exchange MPs should be barred from such jobs for a period after leaving office - golden handcuffs.
MPs are running the country. They should be paid more than a mere corporate executive.
That'll just lead to more executives being paid £1 pa and then getting the rest in stock / image rights / whatevers.
It's like Sagan said - "To pay MPs more, first you must invent a functioning tax system."
> In exchange MPs should be barred from such jobs for a period after leaving office
Currently I believe they're barred from jobs in sectors where they've had any influence, decision making, etc. but as a quick glance at pretty much any Private Eye of the last decade will highlight, that means nothing.
> MPs are running the country. They should be paid more than a mere corporate executive.
If the first sentence were true, I'd (maybe) agree with the second. But the current bunch aren't running the country, they're chasing the right wing vote whilst feathering their own nests.
Don’t try and re-invent the wheel. Copy what successful countries in Europe already does. For example, Germany is a great example when it comes to creating a strong export industry. Finland is a great example of how to create a world class education system.
Less ideology. More practical implementation.