As of 2025, your average backbench Members of the Senedd (MSs) are taking home a very cool £76,380 a year. That’s not including if you’re a Minister, a Leader of a Political Party, or expenses mind you. Even after tax, you could assume they’d be getting around £4,500 or so per month.
It’s a good gig.
Lucky for them, they’re also expected to have a raise in 2026 (mind you, this is after a £4,300 rise in 2025).
That’s a lot of money for our elected officials, especially considering it’s estimated the average wage in Merthyr is around £27,000.
How much they make in a year might seem a bit abstract. So let’s have a nose at what you can actually get for £76,380 in Merthyr terms?
For that kind of money, you could:
- Buy 738 Large Breakfasts every month from the Dic Penderyn.
- Buy 15 Anytime Return tickets from Merthyr to London Paddington (have a few drinks in Soho, then make it back to Koolers)
- Have a pint of Stella every day for the next 39 years in the Iron Dragon (assuming you make it that long).
- Send 104 Cameo requests to James Buckley from the Inbetweeners (to cover all bases)
- Or, if you’re feeling particularly generous, donate half your wage to local foodbanks and organisations – and still have more per month than the Merthyr average.
The Reality Check
No one’s saying representing your community isn’t hard work (you’ve got to go to a lot of ‘business’ galas), but when the average wage in Merthyr hasn’t hit £30,000 yet, it’s fair to ask: what are we actually getting for the extra forty-odd grand?
While our politicians are getting pretty decent raises, our venues are closing, our bus routes are fading away, our buildings are being left to rot. Not to mention that Merthyr is still one of the most deprived areas in Britain.
Going into 2026, the Senedd’s set to grow by 36 new seats, with each new Member also getting a big fat wage.
What’s the Point?
Here at The Pioneer, we’re not against people being paid fairly for the work they do.
We just want to make sure, as the ones paying them, we get our value for money.
We don’t know about you, but the way things have been going around here, we’re not seeing a return on our investment.
The Merthyr Pioneer will keep tracking the numbers, as it’s all of our money at the end of the day.
