Saturday 28 July 2012

Working class MP- Who are you kidding Mr Macshane?

Labour MP Denis Macshane, this week claimed we need more "working class" members of Parliament, and called for  10% of seats to be made of people on minimum wage.
While this is highly noble of Oxford educated Mr Macshane, is it really feasible? In a nut shell - No.
The opportunities available to working class families are so far behind the middle classes and upper classes that is would be extraordinary for 1% of MP's to come from a minimum wage background..
The majority of the present batch of MP's have degrees in Politics, philosophy and economics. How many people do you suppose are working for minimum wage with those qualifications? Many of our politicians came directly into politics from Oxbridge, without ever having a normal job.
To start with there is the £500 deposit to pay to even stand in the election. This would put many off, considering if they get less than 5% of the vote they lose the deposit. Add to this the cost of a campaign,- campaign manager, literature, travel. An unsuccessful candidate on minimum wage could easily face bankruptcy.
Without the training and schooling in the ways of politics and elections your average working class candidate would be destroyed by their opponents. The only way round this would be for poorer candidates to be sponsored. Big business or governments or even trade unions funding a candidate will inevitably lead to corruption.
The only way to get working class people into parliament is to change the entire system. Bearing in mind the current crop, asking for these changes would be like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.
While many MP's may claim to support the ideology of Mr Macshane's suggestion, Parliament is the ultimate house of the elite. Are these people really going to give up the position they were born into? No.
The issue is, as i have said before, all the influential professions- journalism, law,  MP are dominated by middle aged middle class white men. This has to change before the voice of working class people will ever be heard.
I was told many years ago by a news paper editor, that no news paper would ever employ any one who did not have  a degree (in absolutely any subject) regardless of ability, unless of course you are a celebrity. Obviously one needs to pass many exams and study for many years to get a job in legal industry and as i said politics is dominated by the Oxbridge classes. Working class people simply are not represented. When you consider the influence these professions have in the country it is even less likely to imagine minimum wage, working class people getting elected.

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