Political class have not learned lesson on pay

It’s possible there might be people who are genuinely deluded enough to think a few new faces around the Cabinet table signals that the political class has learnt the lessons of the May election results.

Such a delusion will be exposed when none of the new appointees has the integrity to decline the pay rise that comes with their new job, even though they will happily rubber stamp decisions by colleagues that identify a whole range of cuts that have to be inflicted on other people. But never so bankrupt that more money for the political class can’t be found.

Over three years into its term not a single member of this government, of either party, has the ethical honesty to publish, not just a breakdown of their expenses, but the receipts to verify them too. None of the new ones will change this.