IHAVE been asked on a number of occasions about MPs' pay and how I would have voted had I been Ribble Valley's MP. I am more than happy to make my own position public.

The previous MPs' salary level of £34,000 is slightly more than double the salary I earn as a further education college lecturer. While I do not share the hair-shirt argument that MPs should be paid almost nothing, I imagine I would just about have managed to get by on a salary double the one which allows me to enjoy a lifestyle about which I can have few complaints.

The salary of £43,000 which MPs voted for themselves is completely without any justification, particularly in an area such as Ribble Valley, where wages are low.

For MPs, including those in my own party, to even contemplate voting for a pay rise of such a magnitude is insensitivity beyond belief to many of those they represent. To his credit, my Conservative opponent, the sitting MP for Ribble Valley, voted against the pay rise. It remains to be seen however whether he will accept the new, inflated salary. Perhaps he would like to clarify his position in public.

If elected as Ribble Valley's MP, I would be delighted to receive a salary even remotely close to the £34,000 which so many MPs consider to be inadequate. I would therefore not accept the 26 per cent pay rise.

By voting for such a large rise, the MPs responsible have brought even more public contempt on politics and the political process. This comes on top of a string of 'sleaze' allegations and at a time when politicians of all parties are held in lower esteem than ever before.

MARCUS JOHNSTONE, (Prospective Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Ribble Valley), Scott Park Road, Burnley.

Footnote: A story (LET, July 15 - Burnley edition) on the comments made in this letter may have incorrectly given the impression that Mr Johnstone singled out Burnley MP Peter Pike for personal criticism when, in fact, he was criticising all MPs who voted for the 26 per cent pay increase without naming any.

We also omitted to say that although he praised Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans for voting for three per cent, Mr Johnstone did ask if the MP would 'clarify in public' whether he would be in fact drawing the larger rise - Editor.

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