What will we get for £86,250 plus expenses ?

With news that a secret poll has revealed that 70% of London MPs' want a £20K a year pay rise I had a look at what we will get for £86,250 plus expenses.

As luck would have it there was a debate involving Scottish MPs' at Westminster so it allowed me to see how they perform.

The debate was about the referendum vote on Scottish independence in 2014 and was covered well in other blogs and I'll borrow their quotes etc.

First up is Jim Sheridan who called the SNP 'big fearties', which confused Hansard ,(see picture above), who are responsible for recording parliamentary speeches. Fearties is Scots for 'afraid'. His reasoning was given as .....

"The debate today was on referendum in Scotland. I made the comment because the SNP slogan used to be ‘Free By 2003′. But now it’s 2013, so why are we waiting? “They had the chance in 2012, after that they are still not ready and they should be ready. Why waiting two years? They are frightened of Scotland, so that’s when I said they were “big fearties.”

Pretty poor statement. The SNP weren't in government in 2003. And have always maintained they would have the referendum in 2014 if they got into power and had the majority required to drive the legislation through the Scottish Parliament. Plus of course going against all the other parties and fighting against a 100% biased media to try for independence is hardly the actions of a typical fearty.

Next up Mr Ian Davidson (Glasgow South West)....

“We see no reason for delaying the referendum until the end of 2014, except for perceived partisan advantage. The referendum will be timed to take place after the anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn, which is celebrated mainly because Scots slew large numbers of English people, and after the Commonwealth games in Glasgow. The fact that those events will take place before the referendum gives people the opportunity to celebrate the politics of identity and ethnicity.

"We thought that Scotland in the 21st and 22nd century would be looking forward, and would be progressive and positive. Celebrating the murder of hundreds or thousands of English people does not necessarily provide the best base on which to move forward.”

So presumably Robert the Bruce should have laid down his arms and surrendered to King Edward's army who were planning on taking Scotland by force ? Our troops and their families would have been slaughtered. Like they were later at Culloden. We celebrate Bannockburn because Scotland maintained it's independence. Not because people were killed ( on both sides). The UK will celebrate the start of WW1 next year where millions were slaughtered. How does Mr Davidson feel about this ?

( update 20th Jan, Wings over Scotland highlighted this. Mr Davidson supported an 'early day motion' to celebrate the Battle of Trafalgar where thousands died on all sides of the battle)

How about this one ?...

Jim McGovern (Dundee West) (Lab)...

“Does [Mr Davidson] find it somewhat odd that the former England football captain, Terry Butcher, will be entitled to vote in the referendum, but Sir Alex Ferguson will not?”

Terry pays taxes in Scotland and lives there and I presume is on the electoral register. Alex doesn't. So it doesn't seem odd at all no. You need a criteria for voting. You have to be on the electoral register in Scotland. Or be eligible for a postal vote if you're in the Forces etc. Where do you draw the line ?

Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)

“I remember Donald Dewar, to whom I pay great tribute for the work he did on behalf of Scotland and the United Kingdom, standing at the Dispatch Box when we debated what is now section 29 of the Act, and saying that it was not his intention for there ever to be a situation in which a Government of Scotland, or Scottish Parliament, would wish to conduct a referendum on the independence of Scotland.”

And ? Donald Dewar was in the Labour Party and supported the Union. So he would never have wanted independence. No.

Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)

“I am afraid that I do not have confidence that the permanent secretary at the Scotland Office will have any control over the SNP. I suspect that, even if he gets round to raising the odd word of concern, he will be told in no uncertain terms where to go.”

Mr Darling will be speaking from experience here after working in Mr Brown's cabinet. Flying nokias etc.

Pretty poor show from our representatives in London . The UK Prime Minister recently said that most policy was now EU legislation and that the UK parliament was bypassed most of the time. Maybe a pay cut would be more appropriate ?

I wonder what Robert the Bruce would have made of it all. You wouldn't call him a 'fearty'.