Speaker Michael Martin KEEPS his £1.4m pension pot perk

**This is disgraceful and is disrespectful to the hard working folk of the UK whose taxes fund Mr Martin and his wife's lavish lifestyle. There are pensioners that served their country and gave more to it then Mr Martin ever did and they battle everyday to exist on their meagre pensions.**

 

Speaker Michael Martin KEEPS his £1.4m pension pot perk

 

By Ian Drury
Date: 29th May 2008

 

Commons Speaker Michael Martin will retire on a generous taxpayer-funded pension worth £1.4million - after refusing to follow the Prime Minister in ditching the extravagant perk.

After a bruising battle, the Speaker won the right to retain a gold-plated pensions package of £836,000 on top of a £572,000 pension he has so far accumulated as an MP.

It means Mr Martin - nicknamed Gorbals Mick because of his working-class Glasgow background - will have one of the country's most generous pensions, totalling £1.4million.

Critics said it is another damning example of MPs with their 'snouts in the trough' while millions of ordinary hard-working Britons are forced to tighten their belts as the cost of food, fuel and mortgages rises. Mr Martin, 67, who earns £138,724, has already come under fire over his use of public money, including claiming nearly £50,000 in air travel over recent years, while his wife Mary has run up £4,000 in taxi bills.

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