Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

The head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s communications operation receives an annual salary of £85,000. I am a communications and research intern for a Member of Parliament and earn nothing. In fact, I will be soon be faced with the choice between starvation and eviction because the MP who engaged me in good faith cannot wade through IPSA’s layers of bureaucracy and provide me with a wage.

The plight of interns has been recognised by most of the candidates for the Labour leadership. Interns Aware has received backing from all but Ed Balls for its campaign for interns to be paid at least the national minimum wage. This is not an issue that the Labour Party or the wider labour movement should ignore. We are supposed to stand or fall on solidarity and working for an MP should not make anyone less worthy of that support. Of course, I am partially motivated by self-interest, but there are serious issues around IPSA and the wider access to politics.
IPSA was created as a knee-jerk response to public outrage. Bad legislation is something that can sometimes be repented at leisure, but this body is an abomination; bloated beyond control by its sense of moral self-importance. Tory blogger Iain Dale has brought a video to wider attention on his website. This shows Ken Osila, a member of the IPSA board, desperately trying to
justify IPSA’s inflated salaries and vast, bureaucratic machine. Labour created this and the party should now show the moral courage necessary to undo the harm it has caused.

The arguments around access to politics are well worn, but my experience is relevant and applicable. If internships are only accessible to one social group, what does this do for the representative nature of politics and political parties? Clearly, it restricts both and is inherently bad for democracy.

IPSA’s moral piety is unjustified. Far from defending democracy, the organisation is actually choking it and souring politics in Britain.

It has yet to be explained to me why there are adequate grounds to consider internships as different from other forms of apprenticeship. Making politics less professional does not engender some kind of mythic purity in the system. In fact, it is making politics amateurish that breeds corruption, stifles meritocracy and encourages exploitation. Although people who want politics to be less like a “normal” career may mean well, what that would bring about would be the opposite of what they intend. The system would not become fairer and more transparent, but the reverse.

Politics is in danger of becoming the province of the rich. That might suit the current Cabinet, but would be very bad for the rest of us. The system of parliamentary expenses has moved from one extreme to the other – from a chaotic vacuum to a bureaucratic nightmare. Labour must defend the sort of politics that is open to all and not get lost in the mood of the moment.