Parliament 'is becoming a county council'

3rd June 2008

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MPs should be paid less as more power is transferred to European institutions, according to a former minister.

Conservative MP Peter Lilley on Tuesday proposed legislation to require the senior salaries review body to account for the transfer of power from Parliament to the EU when making recommendations on MPs' pay.

He told ePolitix.com that he wanted to use his ten minute rule bill to "bring home to my colleagues in Parliament that if we're progressively to reduce the power of Parliament, we can't pretend to the British people that isn't happening".

"If we have less power we should get less pay," he said. "If ever we get powers back from Europe we should have more pay."

While "there may be good cases for giving away power to Europe", Lilley said that if Parliament was becoming "just a provincial council like a county council" then MPs should "be paid like county councillors and not like members of Parliament".

"It's really to make them aware of what they're doing and a lot of people are sleepwalking into this process of giving away powers in successive European treaties so that we become less and less important and less and less significant," he said.

Speaking during the debate, Lilley said that Parliament's powers would gradually be reduced so that its only functions were to raise taxes and declare war.

With the Lisbon treaty still going through Parliament, the Hitchin and Harpenden MP told this website it was "important to bring home to members of Parliament that they're giving away powers and responsibilities entrusted to them by the British people".

"In every other walk of life, one's pay reflects one's responsibilities," he added. "If we're going to reduce those responsibilities we should accept that we're paid less and if we get more powers back from Europe and increase the responsibilities of Parliament again then that should be reflected positively in the remuneration of MPs.

"If we're progressively reducing the powers of Westminster, that it's becoming more like a county council, then we should be paid accordingly.

"It's moving gradually in that direction; it's got a long way to go before it's just a county council but it has lost a lot of power."

Pointing to a range of areas now decided by European institutions, he said Westminster only had the power to "rubber stamp them".

"Even if Westminster voted unanimously against a directive agreed in Europe, that directive still becomes the law of the land," he said.

"People don't realise the power is transferred there, it's no longer at Westminster. Someone once said it took a long time for the members of the Yeoman of the Guard to realise they were no longer part of the regular army, and I think it's taken a little while for members of Parliament to realise that they're not going to be a regular Parliament if they keep handing powers over to Europe."