Ben Lowry: Kirstie Allsopp is right — we should all imagine we face a 50% Covid pay cut

Last week I wrote that if lockdown was coming back then the pain of it needed to be more evenly spread.
By Ben Lowry
Published 24th Oct 2020, 12:35 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2020, 14:27 BST
The TV poperty expert Kirstie Allsopp who said that if people support lockdown they should volunteer 50% of their wages to people who have lost their jobThe TV poperty expert Kirstie Allsopp who said that if people support lockdown they should volunteer 50% of their wages to people who have lost their job
The TV poperty expert Kirstie Allsopp who said that if people support lockdown they should volunteer 50% of their wages to people who have lost their job

Plenty of people are unbothered by such restrictions because they can work from a comfortable home with a nice garden. Such people tend to be affluent and often work for the public sector, which has had pay rises across the board.

I suggested (see link below) that politicians lead the way in volunteering for a pay cut, as a symbolic gesture to help fund the vastly expensive furlough and other support schemes (and I said so as one of the few commentators who has advocated pay rises for politicians, to help attract talent).

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I was thinking of writing another article asking public sector workers how they would feel if, like journalists for JPI (the company that owns the News Letter), there had been pay cuts of up to 20%.

But look at the comment by the TV personality Kirstie Allsopp at the top of the page (in the print edition, embedded in this web page).

It makes me realise my suggestion was too modest.

We all need to imagine losing half of our income to help others. Even if we did lose 50%, we would still be better off than people who face ruin. Anyone who would make such sacrifices and still back lockdown is an admirable believer in it.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

• Ben Lowry: Just as Peter Robinson says, there is a need to build arguments for the UK in case of a border poll

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• Ben Lowry: If lockdown is returning then the pain needs to be much more widely shared

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Related topics:Ben LowryPeter RobinsonNorthern Ireland