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MPs deserve £162,000 package and a medal when they lose elections, committee suggests

The administration committee said the House should also consider presenting departing MPs with a ‘medallion of service’ - Jessica Taylor/AFP via Getty Images
The administration committee said the House should also consider presenting departing MPs with a ‘medallion of service’ - Jessica Taylor/AFP via Getty Images

MPs who lose elections should be given bigger payoffs to help them land new jobs, a parliamentary committee has suggested.

In a new report, a cross-party group of MPs pointed to the more generous German system – where parliamentarians can receive a resettlement package of up to £162,000 on leaving office – as a potential model.

The administration committee said the House should also consider presenting departing MPs with a “medallion of service” at a special reception with family and friends.

The recommendations will be handed to Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, and the independent body that decides on pay, for consideration.

According to the report, MPs who lose their seats after two years or more get a “loss of office payment”, equal to double the statutory redundancy entitlement.

But the cash is only handed over once they have made arrangements to wind up their affairs in office, such as repaying any outstanding debts and issuing redundancy notices to staff.

The MPs suggested the payment, which averaged £5,250 for MPs defeated at the 2019 general election, should instead be treated as a “redundancy package” to support those moving to a new role outside the Commons.

‘Career coaching’ while in office

They used the examples of resettlement packages offered by other countries, including Germany, Australia and Canada, each worth significantly more than the typical UK allowance.

In Germany, parliamentarians with a minimum of one year in the job receive a “transitional emolument” to help the step into new employment, equivalent to one month’s salary (£9,020) for each year of service up to a maximum of 18 months, the report said.

Sir Charles Walker, the veteran Tory backbencher who chairs the committee, said the German offer, among others highlighted, should be used to inform a review of the Westminster system.

“I’m not recommending them, but we are just stating the case that when you look at national comparisons in the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament and international comparisons, what is meant to be the greatest Parliament in the world falls well short of all of those,” he told The Telegraph.

The possibility that MPs who leave office in disgrace could rake in thousands to help them pursue new ventures may prove controversial. However, the committee appears only to suggest a shift in the allowance for those who are defeated at the polls rather than those forced to step down mid-term.

The committee also called for MPs to get “career coaching” while in office, to help them “identify and articulate their skills and experience”.

‘No raging bull market for ex-MPs’

Sir Charles warned that many of those leaving Westminster have a “really difficult time” finding new employment, as there is no “raging bull market for ex-Members of Parliament”.

The Tory grandee said the public will not want to see “exhausted” MPs becoming “bed blockers”, sitting in safe seats for years because they are “terrified” of not finding another job.

He also said he would back the creation of a Speaker’s Medallion for Parliamentary Service to celebrate the contribution MPs make to their country, which he said could be worn on “civic occasions”.