A vow of poverty
I'm just off air on Evening Extra where I was explaining why MLAs pulled the motion which would have given them a £7000 wage hike from 2011. The on the record reason is that the SDLP and the DUP told the Speaker party leaders hadn't been sufficiently consulted on the proposal from the Assembly commmission. They also argued that a vote for a salary increase would pre-empt the job of a new independent statutory body now being processed through Westminster.
However others, such as Alliance's Sean Neeson, argue that the Stormont parties were consulted well in advance (after all the Assembly Commission consists of their nominees). So were they running scared of the public reaction after last week's leak of the pay rise and Sinn Fein's vocal opposition?
Anyway, pending a ruling from a new body, the MLAs have taken a temporary vow of poverty. My former colleague has pointed out to me that our ministers haven't apparently spent a lot of time examining poverty recently - according to a written answer given to the SDLP's Mary Bradley set up in November last year has only met twice - once when it was formed and once in May. A third meeting is due this week.
I'm 
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