LETTER – Spare time certainly bears fruit

Mr Sloan (Letters, July 23) speaks of John Hayes’ ‘appalling’ voting record in supporting government measures that have promoted austerity and brought hardship to many.

Sir John has supported measures that have cut the NHS and put stress on its staff and has supported cutting the police force to a level where it can no longer cover all its responsibilities adequately.

He’s also been in favour of the drastic cutting of support to local authorities, leading to neglect of the public estate and services, including underfunding of care homes and support to the elderly.

But in defence of Sir John, it would be unfair to imply that he always wishes to block the spending of public money.

There is one area where he has long supported it; namely MPs’ expenses.

Last year, Lincolnshire Live reported that he had been the most expensive MP in Lincolnshire in 2018, claiming expenses of £180,000 on top of his MP’s salary – an average of nearly £3,500 a week. The greater part of that went on staffing costs, his own family supplying part of the staff.

Mr Sloan also asks where Sir John gets the time for his ‘extra mural’ activities.

Well, however he gets the time, it certainly bears fruit. On the two such jobs he already declares (not counting the new university job), the equivalent of a week’s work brings him as much as an experienced nurse earns in a year.

I hope Sir John didn’t have the chutzpah to go out applauding the NHS on those Thursday evenings!

John Tippler
Spalding