MPs' unpaid internships benefit the rich and damage the job market

You state that "scores" of "MPs may have broken minimum wage law by taking on unpaid interns", as a result of "changes to parliamentary expenses rules" combined with "record graduate unemployment".

I am a 2010 graduate with a politics and sociology degree and have spent my time since graduating working in Starbucks, as a charity street fundraiser, and as an unpaid intern in political monitoring. I desperately want to work in politics. Still, I would not lower myself to work unpaid for an MP.

You say the increased number of unpaid internships, placements, voluntary positions – the job titles are diverse and mysterious – is "leading to a fear of a new political class emerging". These young graduates who are chalking up parliamentary experience are presumably able to be there because they are parent-funded. Making sure these roles are unpaid is, in effect, freezing out any applicant who is not from a wealthy background.

For those of us who want to campaign for equality, having to effectively buy career experience in order to have any chance of getting a paid job in the future is bound to herald an identity crisis. I have done one unpaid internship, and I felt guilty throughout. The internship was political, but wasn't for a party or politician. It paid £100 a week, which covered travel and lunch expenses – some internships pay nothing. To support myself I worked evenings and weekends in a cafe for the three months of the placement.

Keith Vaz, Labour MP and chairman of the home affairs select committee, recently hired a new intern. I was interviewed for the position, under the impression that it was paid. The job ad detailed the pay as "in accordance to Ipsa [Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority] guidelines" and I, naively, thought that these might say "pay your staff". But, no, it was a full-time, three-month, expenses-only internship. The lack of pay essentially ruled out any applicant who was not already in a fortunate economic position – ie with wealthy parents who were willing to fund their career progression.

What actually drives young people to take these roles and accept conditions of no pay and no employment rights? The desire to "volunteer" for an MP? Anyone who has not recently worked a 50-hour week for less than £20 may be out of touch with graduate job-hunting. The article does not mention the crippling fear of failure that arises from being unlucky in your job search, and the feeling that you will never get anywhere.

Internships are happening in every industry and sector, not just in buildings with shiny gold clocks on the side. Yet how can employers in creative industries, or the public sector, or in business, be told to pay their staff when unpaid internships are rife in the offices of our elected representatives? Young people cannot expect MPs to represent us – to campaign for our pay and employment rights – while we bring them research reports, with a smile, for the bargain price of travel and lunch expenses only.

Source: Emma Kosmin, Guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6th December 2011