Francis Maude Feather's His Own Nest.

While the likes of William Hague, Simon Hunt and Eric Pickles have been telling everyone today that they will have to work harder and longer their mate Francis Maude has been busy making sure that MP's and Cabinet Minister's pensions are even more gold plated than they were before. The changes to their pensions that came into force yesterday meant that they would have to pay an extra 2.4% in contributions, but the rewards they get will soar. For an extra £229 per year while they are in cabinet (which in the case of this lot means 3 years) they will receive a whopping £314 per year for up to twenty years. In other words for an extra contibution of £687 they stand to get back as much as £6,280. By any standards a good deal. All in all that means that today’s cabinet ministers can look forward to a £731,000 retirement pot - worth a potential £43,000-plus a year - for five years "work"! Many people regard such things as proof of hypocrisy. In fact its much worse then that - it is proof of sheer criminality.