MPs should be given six-month golden handshakes when they leave - a move which may clear out jaded politicians who are too scared to quit, the Commons heard.
Tory Charles Walker gave a scathing verdict on the quality of MPs - warning that insecurity and lack of support means many of the "best and brightest" are being put off.
He also said that some longstanding Parliamentarians would "love" to quit, but fears about finding a job after leaving stop them from doing so.
Sir Charles said he and a cross-party committee believe outgoing politicians should have access to six-month grants to help them prepare for life outside Westminster.
He also called for members to be given a medal in recognition of their public service.
Sir Charles, who is himself quitting at the next election, told the Commons: "There should be better financial support for those leaving Parliament.
"Winding up a Parliamentary office with tens of thousands of bits of casework doesn't take a couple of months, it takes many, many months."
And he said that the move may lead to a clear-out of MPs who do not want to be there anymore.
Sir Charles said: "There are long-serving members of Parliament who would love to leave, but they're frightened, they're put off leaving because of the financial uncertainty... for the sake of a six month settlement grant and some financial and career advice, we may be freeing up seats which is a benefit to those who want to leave and certainly to the benefit of their constituents."
He said he agreed that a better quality of representative is needed, telling the House: "We will never in this place struggle to attract the shrill, the loud and the raucous... but we also need the thoughtful, the considered, the intellectually inquisitive - and their numbers are thinning."
Tory colleague Michael Fabricant said that many MPs lose their seats through no fault of their own, but because of the "tide of national politics".
Sir Charles was presenting a report by the Commons Administration Committee, which said MPs should be entitled to a redundancy settlement.
In its report titled Smoothing The Cliff Edge: Supporting MPs At Their Point Of Departure From Elected Office, the committee said: "The loss-of-office payment should be treated as a redundancy package when making their transition to another career.
Sir Charles told the chamber that the average tenure for an MP is nine years.
It said: "Payment should not be contingent upon the completion of the winding-up tasks as this goes against the spirit of the payment and its intended function."
During its inquiry, the committee found that some MPs experienced "financial challenges and hardship" after losing their seats, with some waiting months for their loss-of-office money.
The 37-page report published on Wednesday said that for MPs defeated at the 2019 general election, the median loss-of-office payment was £5,250 - equivalent to less than one month of their £84,144 salary.
The committee found that Westminster's pay-outs compared poorly with comparable international democracies, with an ousted MP in German who has served for 18 years qualifying for £162,360 compensation.
In the UK, loss-of-office payments are only paid out if the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), the body created in the wake of the expenses scandal to set MPs' pay, deems that certain "wind-up" criteria are met.
They include issuing redundancy notices to staff, submitting all business cost claims associated with running their MP offices and paying any outstanding debts to IPSA.
