A BRITISH MP has promised to donate a substantial part of her £80,000 salary to charity.
Nadia Whittome, 23, the the UK’s youngest MP, said she only intends to take home £35,000 after tax. The rest of the money will be donated to charities in her constituency.
She told the Nottinghamshire Live website: “It’s not about philanthropy and it’s not that MPs don’t deserve that salary, it’s the fact our teaching assistants, nurses and firefighters do as well.
“When they get the pay rise they deserve, so will I. I hope this decision sparks a conversation about earnings. It’s the greatest honour of my life to represent my home city where I was born and bred.”
Whittome won the Nottingham East seat for Labour at the general election held last week. She finished with a majority of more than 17,000.
The December 12 election saw the Tories surging to a massive majority.
On Sunday (15), Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn apologised to party supporters over their worst general election since the 1930s.
In an open letter in the Sunday Mirror and Observer, Corbyn said he took responsibility for the party coming up short in the polls.
“I will make no bones about it. The result was a body blow for everyone who so desperately needs real change in our country,” Corbyn said in his letter to the Sunday Mirror. “I’m sorry that we came up short and I take my responsibility for it.”
Corbyn has agreed to stand down in the early part of next year as the leader of the party.
“We will learn the lessons of this defeat, above all by listening to lifelong Labour voters who we’ve lost in working-class communities,” he said.
“This party exists to represent them. We will earn their trust back.”
