MPs' £86,000 salary should be doubled, says Tory Sajid Javid

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Senior Tory Sajid Javid has suggested that MPs' £86,000 salary be doubled, saying talented people have been deterred from entering politics because of the salary.< /p>

The former chancellor, who previously worked in investment banking, says he would like to 'halve the number of MPs and double salaries' - taking their salary to £172,000 a year .

He told an Institute for Government Event that the miserable salary was partly to blame for the lack of talent in government posts - taking a swipe at Tory ministers who "are not very good at their jobs".

The former minister said he accepted MPs' salaries were "a lot of money - more than double the national average - but you get what you pay for money".

His comments come amid a Tory exodus from parliament, with Mr Javid and around 30 of his colleagues announcing they are standing down at the next general election.

M. Javid said 'one of the reasons why I think either people leave or you don't get more diverse profiles of people in different professions like wanting to join parliament well, I think salary is an issue' .

He said: 'If people want to see your GPs or nurses or headteachers or an accountant give up their job to want to get into parliament they have to suffer a massive lifestyle downfall to do that."

Mr Javid added: "A lot of people aren't willing to do that. So you tend to have in parliament either really rich people who don't need money and so they don't care if their salary is £88,000 or £28,000.

"Or you'll have people who were earning sort of £30,000 to £80,000 is a big step forward, but they might not have the skills parliament needs.