MAKING the case for our politicians to be paid more is not an easy task, but here I go anyway.

Before I seem like I am completely out of touch, I get the anger at the proposal to raise MLA pay by 27%.

After all, for five of the last 10 years, Stormont has been down, and when it is up, it can seem like we either get gridlock or mindless bickering.

Why on earth would you argue for a higher salary for what we have at the moment?

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Using this platform, I want to make the argument for why we should pay our MLAs more – and why the standards we expect from them should rise just as much.

I have heard over the past week a common refrain – “It’s not the right time” – as a cost-of-living crisis still bites and our economy faces headwinds.

A bit like discussing Irish unity, I wonder: well, when is the right time? Do we need spectacular public services first? Is it a certain number of bills passed? Or do MLAs need to each have a certain quota for casework?

We don’t know, because it is never spelt out. The simple reality is that this proposal, whether this year, next year, or in five years, will never be popular.

Pay rises for politicians are unpopular, even when the economy is going well, and there is relative stability.

Here are the facts: our MLAs over the past decade have seen their pay rise by 8 per cent, which, on average, has been below the general rate of inflation.

In comparison, Members of the Scottish Parliament have seen their pay rise by 23 per cent, and Members of the Welsh Parliament by 19 per cent.

The latter is particularly odd given that the Northern Ireland Assembly typically has more power devolved to it than its Welsh counterpart.

The disparity does not stop on these islands; look at other sub-national parliaments around the world, such as the Australian Capital Territory, which is home to one main city and a population of under half a million people. An MLA there takes home around £99,000 per year.

Or the Falkland Islands, with a population of 3,600 people, and its MLAs get £52,000 per year.

No matter how you cut it, MLAs in the north are paid less comparatively than in many other jurisdictions.

For a job that is not 9 to 5 and one that is recording rising levels of abuse, it is all the more necessary to ensure that we do not have these roles simply being attractive to just a narrow section of our population.

If we want a higher-calibre political representative, we should be prepared not only to pay for it but also to vote for it.

You could be forgiven for thinking that all the 90 people who currently sit in the Assembly chamber had simply wandered in, and the 2022 election never happened.

As voters, we should demand better and use our votes at the ballot box in May 2027 if our MLAs do not deliver.

One of the frustrating aspects of this debate is the idea that the electorate is merely a bystander, with no power to shape or shake up those who sit on the blue benches at Stormont.

All of us have the chance to ensure we get better at the next election.

No MLA has tenure for life; whether they get elected or co-opted, they all have to face the public at some point.

I get that what I am arguing is not popular, and that our politicians have hidden away from these proposals over the past few days will do nothing to inspire confidence.

However, in the hope of better, let’s pay our politicians more and let’s demand more from them in the job, and be more proactive in punishing them at the ballot box if they fail or if Stormont collapses again.

The two things go hand in hand. Pay scales might be set by an independent body, but how long anyone stays in the job is always up to us.

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