heaven above
10-25-2004, 01:32 PM
MP sparks controversy
OLDHAM East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas has caused outrage by saying that he could not live in Oldham on any less than £120,000 a year.
The Government minister made his controversial comments on GMR’s Alan Beswick show.
Mr Woolas said that his salary of £95,000, which is eight times as high as that of the average Oldhamer, is not enough and that he would not be able to live in the borough without his £21,000 allowance.
Shaw councillor, Rod Blyth, who is recovering from his recent heart attack, said: “I almost fell off my chair when I heard him say that. Mr Woolas lives, as he has always done, in West London. There are hundreds of people in Oldham and Rochdale who work all the hours God sends doing physical graft, sometimes with two or three jobs and still don’t get a fraction of what he sees.
“Does he really think we in Oldham are so daft to believe he needs another £20,000 every year just to keep the little cottage in Lees he pops up to now and again?”
Mr Woolas also complained that he and fellow MP Michael Meacher had to share an office.
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OLDHAM East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas has caused outrage by saying that he could not live in Oldham on any less than £120,000 a year.
The Government minister made his controversial comments on GMR’s Alan Beswick show.
Mr Woolas said that his salary of £95,000, which is eight times as high as that of the average Oldhamer, is not enough and that he would not be able to live in the borough without his £21,000 allowance.
Shaw councillor, Rod Blyth, who is recovering from his recent heart attack, said: “I almost fell off my chair when I heard him say that. Mr Woolas lives, as he has always done, in West London. There are hundreds of people in Oldham and Rochdale who work all the hours God sends doing physical graft, sometimes with two or three jobs and still don’t get a fraction of what he sees.
“Does he really think we in Oldham are so daft to believe he needs another £20,000 every year just to keep the little cottage in Lees he pops up to now and again?”
Mr Woolas also complained that he and fellow MP Michael Meacher had to share an office.
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