'I can barely scrape by on £1,581 a week': Iain Duncan Smith defends his salary

From The Daily Mail:


Iain Duncan Smith today insisted he needs every penny of the £1,581 a week he receives as his MP's and Minister's salary as he defended wide-ranging increases to MPs' salaries which take effect today.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said the Coalition's salary reforms would allow politicians to 'break free' of dependency on lucrative non-executive directorships and 'consultancy' work. But when challenged on whether he could live on £225..86 per day, Mr Duncan Smith replied: 'If I had to, I would.'

The former Conservative leader told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We MPs are in an economic mess, thanks in no small part to The Telegraph. We inherited a problem where we simply do not have the money to spend on all the things we would like to. What I am trying to do is get this instead of spending money on stuff that doesn't seem important to us.'