GrahamO,
Without expressing my opinion of MP's pension package, I do disagree with the hypocrisy of them telling the rest of the public sector to suck it up with everyone else, er...apart from them! The only justification is that they may have sacrificed a career in private industry for a calling in public service themselves and are always on a bit of a tightrope as you rightly point out they can be dumped at the next election. They claim their pension scheme is affordable but that's not an argument they allow the rest of the public sector to use! I would definitley like to see them lead by example as the current proposals for change in the public sector do not encompass their pension scheme and I'm not aware of any proposal that does!
Interesting comment by the Teachers union secretary on Question time where she answered the charge of the taxpayer paying for public sector pensions with the point that the public fund private sector pensions through about £38 billion of tax relief a year (I think that's what she said).
On your point about inefficient public servants such as fat Policemen who can't run. Police officers have to pass an annual physical test including ability to restrain and handcuff. No pass = No issue of certificate = no ability to do job! Teachers are assessed in classrooms by Ofsted inspectors amongst other performance measures. Most civil servants performance is monitored and they can be sacked for inefficiency.
My concern about the changes to public sector remuneration and pensions is also about this:
I don't disagree that historically the civil service in the UK provided relatively secure employment with good pension arrangements. This was seen as a consolation for comparitively less pay than in the private sector, less bonuses and 'perks' etc. The pension was in effect 'deferred pay' In the last few years that pay comparison may have reversed but only for a few years and it is predicted to swap back by 2015 in favour of the private sector again. A calling to public service was always an option for bright kids. That chance and choice was available. If we make it so unattractive e.g working till 68 and paying 6-7% contributions (14% for Police) will OUR kids see it as a choice that is viable for them. Will OUR kids have the opportunity that we did, can they afford to or will we be telling them, no son don't go into public service, you can't afford it, even the pension is no good now. Are we cutting down the life choices for OUR kids by making something so unattractive when actually we might not need to. If the GDP graph is accurate, at least as far as trend if not actual % then we might be making a big mistake. You get what you pay for in anything. Public sector services are no exception. We want to attract good people to work in them, we want the choice that we had still to be available to our kids. Stop knocking them. We went down the road of swappnig our manufacturing base for an economy based on selling beefburgers and financial services and now we are in the clag. That was a mistake. Let's not make another one!