英國大臣辭職 稱年薪12萬無法養家

A Government minister has quit politics claiming he cannot live in London on his salary and expenses of nearly £120,000.

Mark Simmonds said he was quitting as a Foreign Office minister and was standing down as an MP because he was unwilLing to carry on staying in hotels while his family were hundreds of miles away in Lincolnshire.

Mr Simmonds is the second minister to quit the department in less than a week, after Baroness Warsi quit over the Government’s policy towards Gaza.

Labour said the double resignation had left the Foreign Office rudderless just as humanitarian catastrophes were unfolding in Gaza and Iraq.

The former Africa minister said he was leaving the Foreign Office and standing down as an MP because the “intolerable” pressure on his family life. He is being replaced by James Duddridge, a former Government whip.

The unexpected resignation surprised many in Westminster coming months after Mr Simmonds had told his constituents in Boston and Skegness that he would stand for re-election. However, the minister insisted there was "nothing sinister" behind the announcement.

Mr Simmonds actually agreed to quit with David Cameron at last month’s Cabinet reshuffle. However it was delayed until Monday to allow him to chair a United Nations meeting on the Congo in New York last week.

There were claims that Mr Simmonds had resigned fearing a tough fight from the UK Independence Party at May's election, despite a 12,000 majority in 2010, although this was firmly denied by Mr Simmonds.

Mr Simmonds is paid £89,435 a year as a minister and MP and is entitled to £27,875 a year to rent and pay for a flat with him and his family.

However he said this did not “stretch” far enough and so he stayed in hotels during the week when he was in London. His wife is also paid up to £25,000 a year to act as his office manager.

In an interview with The Telegraph he said: “I have to stay in a different hotel room every week and any parent would hate that – and I do.

“The accommodation allowance needs to provide for families – and it doesn’t. When my children are on holiday they can’t come and stay with me in London - I can’t see them.”

“It has a really negative impact on the quality of life. I am not the only one who feels like this, but I am the only one at the moment who is doing anything about it.”

He said the new expenses system – which was reformed after the 2009 scandal which was exposed by the Telegraph - was putting people off from becoming MPs.

He said: “The pendulum has swung too far back the other way. It is almost impossible for an MP and a government minister with children to have a normal family life and that can only be a deterrent to people wanting to come into Parliament.”

Half as many people were applying to be MPs today compared in 2001, he said, adding that “the negative impact on family life is a significant part of that”.

He added: “If you want to attract normal people into Parliament to reflect the views of the population you have to got to put in place the support mechanisms to deliver that. I don’t believe those support mechanisms are in place and that is why I am going.”

Mr Simmonds later told the BBC he was standing down over the fear that he would not see his three children, who are aged 15, 13 and 12, grow up.

He said: “My children are growing up, my eldest daughter will be 21 by the time the 2020 election comes by and I don’t want her to turn around and say ‘I never saw my father, my daddy in that time’.”

He added that the thought of staying in a hotel every night, particularly when his children were on holidays, “just fills me with dread and horror”.

Mr Simmonds said he was not willing to live in the “outer reaches of London” where rents were more affordable.

Mr Simmonds’ claims that the allowances were not enough to support a family life were denied by the Parliamentary expenses watchdog, which last December recommended an 11 per cent pay rise for MPs after May's general election.

A spokesman for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority said: “Ipsa is awake to the impact on family life for MPs who have to live in two locations – in London and the constituency. That is why we provide more support to MPs with family or caring responsibilities.”

An MP with three children like Mr Simmonds would be able to claim £27,875 a year “allowing them to rent a flat big enough to accommodate their children”, he said.據《每日電訊報》8月12日報道，英國外交國務大臣馬克·西蒙茲已經離開政壇，並稱近12萬英鎊的年薪（約123萬元）在倫敦根本不夠過活。

西蒙茲表示，自己辭去外交大臣及國會議員的職位，是因爲不願意總是呆在賓館裏，而家人卻住在數百英里之外的林肯郡。

此前，外交部加沙事務負責人沃西女男爵因不支持英國政府在加沙的政策而辭職。

工黨說，兩人的辭職再加上加沙和伊拉克展開的人道主義危機使外交部陷入無人管理的狀態。該黨前黨鞭詹姆斯·杜德里奇將接替西蒙茲的職位成爲下一任非洲大臣。

西蒙茲此舉讓威斯敏斯特宮中的議員們大吃一驚，但他堅稱他的辭職並無隱情。

據悉，西蒙茲之所以辭職，是因爲他擔心在明年五月的選舉中與獨立黨會有一場“惡仗”要打。但他堅決否認這一說法。

西蒙茲作爲外交部大臣和議員的年薪是8.94萬英鎊（約92.38萬元）。另外還享受2.78萬英鎊（約28.79萬元）租房補貼，用來繳納他和他家人所住公寓的租金。作爲他的業務經理，他的妻子也有2.5萬英鎊（約25.83萬元）的年收入。然而，由於租房補貼的範圍遠“不夠寬”，因此在工作日他通常都呆在倫敦的賓館。

西蒙茲接受採訪時說：“我不得不每週都呆在一個不同的賓館裏，家裏有小孩的人都會討厭這一點，我也不例外。”

他說：“住房補貼需要爲整個家庭着想。但英國的住房補貼制度沒有做到這一點。我的孩子們放假時卻不能來倫敦和我呆在一起。我連我孩子的面都見不着。”

西蒙茲表示，新的補貼和報銷制度正在讓人們遠離議員的職位。申請議員職位的人要比2001年減少了一半，主要在於這一職位對家庭生活的消極影響。他還補充說：“如果政府想要吸引一般的人到議會任職，代表人們羣衆發表心聲，那麼它應該有完善的保障機制。我不認爲現行的這些保障機制是完善的，所以我辭職了。”

英國議會獨立開支監察機構“獨立國會標準局”否認了西蒙茲關於政府補貼不足以支撐家庭生活的說法。“獨立國會標準局”的一名發言人說：“我們明白分居倫敦和選區兩地的議員在生活上所受到的影響，所以我們給成家或有贍養義務的議員提供了更多支持。”

該名發言人說，像西蒙茲這樣有三個小孩的議員，每年能獲得2.78萬英鎊（約28.79萬元）的租房補貼，這樣一來，他們就“可以租一間夠大的公寓給孩子們住”。