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Because as is evidenced in this discussion, the comparison of MP salary is always made to national averages and/or a nurses salary rather than appropriate peer group.
It would be interesting to get a load of recruitment consultants, give them an MP job description(does this exist?), create a person spec, log the working hours, location and see what they came up with as a salary.
dubtap
Being an MP was unpaid until the early 20th century. Pay was introduced to make it viable for people who did not have an independent source of income.
The majority of the cabinet for the last 10 years have been independently wealthy (i.e. part of the millionaire / billionaire class), and not reliant on MP or ministerial salary, which sort of suggests that we are back in the 19th century.
Of course it isn't a fixed rule, but higher pay is generally likely to attract higher ability people. This is apparent in both the public and private sector. Why wouldn't this apply to MPs?