Are British MPs underpaid?

Do our MPs get meagre salaries?
That depends on which MPs you compare them with. Two years ago, when the Senior Salaries Review Body that advises No.10 analysed international political pay, it found that French deputies received 5 per cent less in salary than British MPs, Australian MPs 7 per cent less and Spanish deputies 52 per cent less. Today, given the sharp fall in the pound, the British MP's salary looks less competitive. And at £64,766 it is peanuts compared to the salary of a US congressman (£105,000) and to the average pay of a Japanese MP, who receives a whopping £215,000, mainly in salary and bonus. As 26-year-old Taizo Sugimura memorably announced on being elected an MP in 2005: "Now I can buy the BMW I've wanted for so long." But then again, salary is only one part of 'pay' - and often the smaller part.

So what do our MPs get in expenses?
In 2007 the average expenses claim made by a British MP was £135,600 (the lowest was £44,551; the highest £185,421). A fair chunk of their claims are for travel - MPs can claim for business-class air fares and first-class rail travel for parliamentary business inside the UK; for three visits a year to European institutions; and up to 15 return journeys a year for spouses or children. A bigger component still is the allowance for staff - up to £90,505 a year. MPs are allowed to employ family members for this and about a third of them do, in the process raising their household income by a third, on average. Another big component is the 'additional costs' allowance (max £23,083) that MPs outside inner London can claim towards the cost of a second home - anything from rent and utility bills to, as we now know, duck houses and bath plugs.

Are expenses equally generous in the US and Japan?
And then some. But they tend to be more clearly linked to parliamentary duties. Thus the Japanese may give their MPs generous travel allowances, but when it comes to housing, they cram them into student-style accommodation blocks. MPs who prefer to opt for a second home in Tokyo must pay for it themselves. As for America, their politicians get no housing allowance at all. On the other hand, House Representatives get huge office allowances, varying from $1.4m to $1.9m, which allow them to employ up to 60 full-time staff members. But they are not allowed to employ a close relative, unless he or she was previously working for them.

What about European MPs?
When salary and perks are considered together, Britain's MPs do markedly less well than, say, members of France's National Assembly, whose basic salary, given the weak pound, now appears quite a bit higher than their British counterparts'. In any case, more than 80 per cent of them bolster that salary by earnings from a second elected position (being a city mayor, for example). On top of that, French deputies get unaudited expenses for transport, clothes, receptions and the like; free first-class rail travel on the national network; and access to a fleet of private cars. They also qualify for housing loans at extremely low interest on amounts up