At the end of last week, it was announced that retiring MPs would get a major uplift to their severance package. 

Up to now an MP leaving Parliament was eligible for an additional two month’s salary, representing a departing payment of £14,430. Well over 60, mainly Conservative MPs, are proposing to leave Parliament, many of them aware that they are unlikely to be re-elected. 

Miraculously this payment has suddenly just been doubled to £28,860 for MPs either retiring or failing to get re-elected. 

At a time when many families and single people cannot afford to eat properly, relying on Food Banks and unable to keep warm in winter, this action seems both overly generous and does little to keep MPs in tune with the poverty that this Government’s policies have driven their constituents to. 

Justin Beament 

Down St Mary 

Crediton,