It looks set to be a happy April for MPs who are in line for a 2.8 per cent pay rise, lifting their salaries to £93,904. Your reaction to that figure likely depends on how much you earn. So does mine – and since I’m about to argue that MPs are underpaid, it’s only fair I give a sense of my own finances. I’ll stay schtum about my books and biotech startup, but I’ll admit – no boasting intended – that this piece will net me, after tax, somewhere in the mid to high two figures.
Can it be right that we pay our MPs significantly less than hospital consultants?
As my byline makes clear, I’m also a consultant physician. Our salaries, like those of MPs, are public information. A basic full-time job – extras aside, although they’re the norm – pays £105,504 in a consultant’s first year; £139,882 after fourteen more. Clearly, I’m not taking time out from medicine to write this piece for the money – but it’s a nice point to question whether this makes my motives more suspicious, not less.
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