Why are MP's paid so much?

If they were paid lower they'd be more likely to be open to bribes or corruption.

I'm not particularly outraged by their incomes, however I'm not impressed by the quality of them either.

That seems like a farce. Teachers are paid lower than MP's but are not expected to take bribes.

Compared to teachers it doesn't make sense for MPs to be open to bribes, but teachers go into the profession because it's rewarding and I don't think money is the main motivation. Certain types of people aspire to become MPs, or at least when they become politicians, it becomes less about representing the country and more about boosting their pay or gaining power.

You should not appease the corrupt by offering them money not to be. MP's salary should be lowered and those MP's who take bribes should be fined and banned from standing as an MP again.

I don't agree with paying them off but it could be a reason, it's rare to see an MP who actually serves their people, than serving themselves or party lines.

Other reasons could be expense etc.

Something that really annoyed me is how they were "due" a pay increase at a time where they claim to have no money.

Until recently MPs were responsible for setting their own salaries, and realistically they were always going to squeeze as much money out of the system as they possibly could. I only hope that the IPSA can slowly rein them in.

If someone is to be paid a lot, I expect them to produce a high standard of work - and that's not something we've seen from the Commons for a very long time. I understand that MPs need to pay for transport, and an office, and possibly an assistant, but that's what expenses are for. It's not a reason to have such a high basic salary.

Their basic salary isn't that great compared to the private sector or other legislatures. Ironically IPSA insisted on paying them more lately.

It is considering that to be an MP all you need to be is an effective demagogue.

If they were paid lower they'd be more likely to be open to bribes or corruption.

What is it you think MPs actually do? Sit around on their arses claiming expenses all day?! If you actually think about their workload, their responsibilities, the stress involved, the harassment by the press and public they suffer... then I'd change the question to "Why are MPs paid so little". I do not envy them one bit.

It was not all that long ago that MPs were not paid. The reason they began to be paid was because they realised, rightly, that this prevented all but the wealthy from ever becoming MPs, and that this was probably not a good thing.

I think we want certain things from our MPs. They need to be intelligent and talented enough to properly scrutinise policy and they certainly need to be hard-working. Someone with these qualities could command far more than £25,000 (or to be honest £66,000) in the private sector.

I can tell you now that if the salary was £25,000 an awful lot of people would be put off. £25,000 is really not much for a professional career. Many MPs, however passionate and talented, would simply have to go and take a better paying job to support their families. These people cannot reasonably be expected to martyr themselves for a career that you seem to think is worthless anyway. Once again, the people who probably wouldn't really be put off would be those with large sources of outside wealth.

So basically, if you want fewer talented MPs from ordinary backgrounds in parliament cutting their pay would be the best way to go about it.