Resettlement grant

https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/fymp/m05.pdf refers.

It seems that disgraced former MP Chris Davies is entitled to stand in the forthcoming Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. As a losing MP he will be able to receive a resettlement grant of at least £39,700. There will no doubt be objections, as there were when the de-selected Mike Hancock stood again for Portsmouth South in 2015.

However, these grants, brought in by Edward Heath's Conservatives in 1971, are a good thing and one should not let a couple of hard cases break good law. The Great British public expects its MPs these days to be full-timers. The drawback to this is that the man or woman who embarks on political life will have to give up their place on a ladder of professional advancement or the best years of building up a pension in an unskilled or semi-skilled job. I would add that IT experts and medical practitioners find it virtually impossible to update their skills in fields where the technology is moving fast if they are conscientious MPs.  A period at Westminster counts for something, but the stars like Nick Clegg who can slide effortlessly into a top customer relations job after falling victim to an electoral swing are few and far between. There is the vanishing breed of learned gentlemen (and they were typically men) who could sort their MP correspondence and take in a debate in the morning before a profitable afternoon in the Law Courts. They still exist, but I suspect that changes to the sitting hours of the Commons restrict their opportunities for fat fees.

So, if you want to do away with resettlement grants, you would have to allow MPs to become part-timers, which discriminates against non-professional people and favours those with private incomes.