By Bill Heaney
Douglas McAllister is just in the door of the House of Commons as West Dunbartonshire’s Member of Parliament — and he is on to a big pay rise already.
Having stayed silent on the withdrawal of the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance and supported the retention of two child cap on the children’s allowance, not to mention refusing to keep a promise on the WASPI women’s money, Douglas McAllister, left, will soon be struggling to find space in his wallet for the £100,000 plus he’ll be receiving by way of salary and expenses.
The former Provost of West Dunbartonshire, where he was working as a lawyer and at the same time drawing £55,000 for being a member of the basket case West Dunbartonshire Council in Church Street, he is one of more than 600 MPs who are in line for an inflation-busting 2.8 per cent pay rise this year.
The body in charge of parliamentary salaries has announced this will take their “wages” to almost £94,000.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which was set up in the wake of the expenses scandal, said its proposals in part reflect the “vital role” of MPs.
Part of this “vital role” was to turn up in the chamber and speak in support of the WASPI women, but the bold Mr McAllister who promised them he would do that had nothing to say on that score.
Critics are saying the salary hike will be a “bitter pill” to swallow for taxpayers and claimed MPs were being rewarded for failure.
Labour supporters in particular are angry because they claim they have been let down by a cack-handed Cabinet led by Sir Keir Starmer.
People who have voted Labour for years – even party workers – have quit the party and are looking around for somewhere else to support.
Ipsa chairman Richard Lloyd said: “IPSA has been responsible for deciding MPs’ pay since 2011. Since then, our aim has been to make fair decisions on pay, both for MPs and the public.
“Our pay proposal for 2025-26 reflects the experience of the wider working public sector population, and recognises both the vital role of MPs and the current economic climate.”
If approved, the increase would take an MP’s annual salary to £93,904, up from £91,346.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This will be a bitter pill to swallow given politicians of both front benches have for years hammered the living standards of taxpayers.
“MPs are guilty of delivering a record high tax burden, persistent inflation and struggling services, yet are now being rewarded for this catalogue of failures.
“Pay for politicians should be strictly linked to the country’s economic performance, ideally to actual living standards measured by GDP per capita.”
Last March, No 10 said then prime minister Rishi Sunak would accept an inflation-busting 5.5 per cent increase in his MP’s pay after Ipsa recommended the basic salaries be increased from £86,584.
Read it and weep: The tissue of lies Douglas McAllister told the electorate before the local council elections.
The rise was higher than the rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation.
At that stage Ipsa said the decision had been taken in line with the award recently agreed for the senior civil servants.
At the start of the last Parliament, in 2019, MPs were paid £79,468.
The latest Ipsa proposal is in line with the government’s recommendations on a wider public sector pay increase for this year and slightly above the current inflation rate of 2.5 per cent.
McAllister’s voting record in parliament is disgusting and he is only in it for himself and he’ll simply vote whatever way his diabolical party tell him to. I think at this point, what he is paid to be Starmer’s puppet is completely irrelevant. McAllister does not represent the honest people of West Dunbartonshire. The Labour Party lied to everyone to get their votes (half of his voters only voted for him to get rid of the SNP anyway) and if he had any credibility or self respect he would resign and give West Dunbartonshire a by- election.
It has to be remembered that Mr David H Smith is a Reform Party MP who lost at the General Election last year to Labour’s Douglas McAllister in West Dunbartonshire. Ed
Thanks Bill. It is important to note that post election, I am no longer a Reform Candidate and I am not a Reform MP. We did do extremely well at the general election with a very small campaign and we are now building a lot of momentum going into the Scottish Parliament Elections in 2026.
I’m not commenting because I’m a bad looser or out of spite. I am commenting as a constituent.
The point I was raising is that it simply doesn’t matter how much McAllister is paid.
I for one was a little relieved at the general election and took the same position as many other constituents of, ‘well… at least it wasn’t the SNP’.
When McAllister won I shook his hand and wished him all the best.
However, we have all learned very quickly since then just how despicable Labour really are. If McAllister was doing this for free or getting paid a million pounds a year, it just doesn’t matter at this point. He has been elected to represent West Dunbartonshire and since then he’s not voted to the benefit of his constituents and he is the wrong person to represent us.
I could point to many of Labours polices, but for brevity, the winter fuel allowance and the hike in Employers National Insurance, to name just two, are causing real harm to many families, businesses and charities across the whole of the constituency.
Nobody would have voted for that and nobody should believe the story about a 22 Billion black hole either.
Labour are that bad that many people are actually going back to the SNP! Which, as someone who believes passionately about the union, I see as simply unforgivable. At the moment, Labour are the best weapon the SNP have with respect pushing forward their independence agenda.
The best thing McAllister could do at this point is to resign, go back to being a solicitor and let the people vote again.
The entirety of the Labour campaign was built on lies and we all deserve much better representation than this!
Sorry David. I apologise for stating you were an MP, which is incorrect.
I have to agree with the sentiment that too many, if not most of our elected representatives are in it for themselves.
Say one thing and do another is a defining characteristic of so many of our elected representatives. Nothing could be clearer than that when you look at Sir Keir Starmer and the policies he implemented near immediately after getting in to power.
For most people the defining example is the removal of the heating allowance from pensioners. In Scotland, a country awash with an energy bonanza, the removal of the heating allowance whilst we concomitantly raise taxes whilst ramping up funding abroad is al conflict abroad
And who could miss the ministers in the new government filling their boots with tens of thousands of pounds worth of freebie gifts.
And so, Labour are in truth no different from the Tories before them. Folks were sold a pup. Its as simple as that.