Colne Valley MP Kali voted in 3% of decisions last year - but will get big payoff

Jun 4 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A LOCAL MP has vowed to carry on despite her poor health.

Colne Valley’s Kali Mountford is standing down at the next election – but insists she is still working hard for her constituents.

The Labour woman, who walks with a stick, has declined to reveal the nature of her illness.

But Ms Mountford has applied for an ill-health pension, which is available to MPs under 65 who have to retire through sickness.

And the MP also said yesterday that she would receive a Resettlement Allowance of between 50 and 100% of her £64,000 salary for the year after she leaves Parliament.

Ms Mountford said: “I don’t know exactly how much I will receive, it will be based on my length of service. It’s basically a redundancy payment so, like any other redundancy payment, the first £30,000 won’t be taxed.”

Ms Mountford justified the Resettlement Allowance by pointing out that most MPs do not have long careers in Parliament.

She said: “There are some MPs like Barry Sheerman who serve for 25 or 30 years, but the average MP has a Parliamentary life of eight to 12 years.”

Ms Mountford’s comments come two weeks after she told the Examiner “you don’t get a payment for finishing as an MP”.

Ms Mountford, 55, is also applying for an ill-health pension from Parliament. She said: “My application goes to the committee next week and it depends on my doctors giving evidence on the state of my health. I don’t know how much I might get.”