The majority of Brits do not agree with Gary Lineker that MPs should be paid more, new polling shows. The BBC Match of the Day host suggested bigger salaries would bring more talent into politics.
But an exclusive poll by Techne for the Express found 51 percent of respondents say MPs are overpaid.
Some five percent said politicians are underpaid, 23 percent said the amount was just right, and 21 percent did not know.
In the poll of 1,625 British adults carried out from January 18 to 19, Labor voters were more likely than their Tory counterparts to say MPs are overpaid.
Seventy percent of backers of Sir Keir Starmer’s party said MPs are paid too much, compared to 48 percent of Conservative voters.
Meanwhile 62 percent of Remainers said MPs are overpaid compared to 47 percent of Brexiteers.
It comes after Mr Lineker, who is the BBC’s highest-paid presenter on £1.35 million last year, suggested Britain would be better governed if politicians were paid more as it would entice “brilliant minds” to run for office.
Speaking to Times radio earlier this month, he said that being prime minister “must be incredibly difficult. . . and they’ve made it look incredibly difficult over the last stretch”.
Asked if politicians should be paid more, Mr Lineker said: “You’d probably never get that through Parliament, but I’ve always thought it’s such an important job.
“If we could tempt the really brilliant minds in the country into the roles, rather than perhaps people who are already self-made, or their family’s fortune.
“I don’t think we really entice the great minds in the country and probably a bigger salary would.
“But I don’t think you’d ever get that through.”
Mr Lineker, who often speaks out on politics on Twitter, added that he would not enter the political fray himself.
He said: “Just occasionally dabbling on Twitter in the political world is enough to put you off doing that.
“It’s bad enough in football, that’s incredibly tribal, but politics is even more tribal. I’m interested in politics… but actually going into politics myself has never, never, never, never… No, no ambitions.”
MPs earn a basic salary of £84,144, while junior ministers can be paid £106,519 and Cabinet members are on £151,649. The prime minister receives £159,584.
Mr Lineker’s comments came as a YouGov poll revealed the jobs the British public say are harder than being PM.
A surgeon topped the list of jobs tougher than being in No 10, while a professional football came bottom.
