LETTER: Appalled at resignation of Mark Simmonds MP

Bewailing the fact that he cannot manage on £120,000 per year, plus a £25,000 per year salary for his wife and the proceeds of £500,000 he made on the sale of his London home – for which the taxpayer footed the bill and he pocketed the profit. You don’t have to be a fan of “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist” to see how thoughtless this is in an area where most work for the minimum wage.

If that sort of income puts folk off becoming MPs, as Mr Simmonds states, then we are clearly in danger of having only the aristocracy back in Parliament albeit this time in the House of Commons instead of in the House of Lords!

I understand that privately he is worried about losing his seat (majority 12,000) to UKIP in the May elections. With his attitude it is not hard to understand that concern.

Iris Dainton (Mrs)

South Somercotes