More work for AMs warrants extra pay

Mar 7 2008 Western Mail

Western Mail Comment

ASSEMBLY Members, learning this morning about the increases in their pay, may reflect that there’s never going to be a popular time to give more cash to politicians. But with the whole issue of how elected representatives make use of taxpayers’ money very much in the news, it’s a time to tread particularly carefully.

Admittedly, much of that negative publicity centres on Westminster, where the suspicion remains that MPs are allowed to claim large expenses without much supporting evidence of genuine need. Few rules have been broken of late, but as is often the case in public life, the real problem is what is allowed, not what is prohibited.

Whether they like it not, that is the prism through which the announcement on AMs’ pay is likely to be viewed. Many voters will be unhappy that backbench AMs are now getting a basic salary in excess of £50,000, a rise that breaks the old percentage link to better-paid MPs.

And with public sector workers, from the police to the civil service, having to make do with pay increases below 2%, the 8% rise in AMs’ salaries will be harder to sell, to say the least. Perhaps the blame for those paltry increases can be shifted up the M4 to Westminster in any case.

Nevertheless, there is a strong case for paying AMs more than they currently get, and that case is two-fold. Firstly, there is an increased workload for AMs since the Government of Wales Act came into force last year. There are laws to be formulated, for the first time, and real, raw policy to be scrutinised. AMs have to work harder, and longer – no bad thing – and should be paid a little more as a result. They could also do with an increase in their numbers too, although that seems some way off the political agenda.

The second argument, is, in its way, related to the first. In an Assembly of 60 members there is no place to hide, and since 1999 the weakness of some elected members has been plain for all to see. Now that there are far more serious matters, with the potential to have much further-reaching consequences for day-to-day life in Wales, being not only discussed but decided upon in Cardiff Bay, the need for higher-quality representation is higher than ever.

That improvement in quality will only come if better people are attracted, and although power is an attraction in itself, a better salary may prove an even bigger sway.

Moves to review the entire allowances system for AMs are also welcome, although whether Assembly-owned constituency offices are a good idea is less clear. We shall wait and see.

Contentious it may be, but there is a case for paying our AMs more. We hope the AMs themselves can go out and make that case convincingly and confidently.

Storm over 8.3% pay rise for AMs