BORIS Johnson dismissed the SNP MPs as “these people” in a rowdy exchange at Prime Minister’s question.
The Tory leader was answering a question from East Renfrewshire’s Kirsten Oswald about the huge hike in the daily rate for members of the House of Lords.
Peers voted to give themselves an inflation-busting 3.1% pay hike, which now means that from April they’ll get paid £323 for each day they turn up.
A standard year can see 150 sitting days in the Lords, meaning that peers could now pocket nearly £50,000 WITHOUT paying any tax or national insurance.
READ MORE: WATCH: Alister Jack admits more than half of Scots pay less tax
That’s on top of the expenses and allowances they get to cover their costs.
Speaking in the Commons, Oswald pointed out that the Lords were getting more in a day than people relying on Universal Credit were receiving in a month.
She said: “The new daily allowance for the unelected and unaccountable peers being stuffed into the House of Lords by the Prime Minister is set to rise to £323. The monthly allowance for a single person over 25 on universal credit is £317.82. Is that the levelling up the Prime Minister keeps talking about?"
The bit that was missed in Boris’ hullabaloo around @kirstenoswald’s excellent question was that the new Lords DAILY allowance, just for turning up, is now higher than the #UniversalCredit MONTHLY allowance for a single person #PMQs https://t.co/DhF0Lkdl0D
— Neil Gray MP (@neilgraysnp) February 12, 2020
As Tory MPs heckled the SNP politician, Johnson replied: "Actually, I hate agreeing with these people. Actually, I do find that it is odd that the House of Lords has chosen to do that but it is a decision for them."
The SNP’s AmyCallaghan tweeted: “Great to go to your work - representing your constituency - and be referred to as ‘these people’.”
SNP MP Neil Gray noted on Twitter that the bit that was missed in "Boris’ hullabaloo" around Kirsten Oswald’s question "was that the new Lords DAILY allowance, just for turning up, is now higher than the Universal Credit MONTHLY allowance for a single person".
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