Pay rise not decided by MPs, politicians stress
PROPOSALS for a pay hike for MPs will not be decided by the politicians.
Gloucestershire MPs have made it clear they are no longer the ones setting their own pay after a survey showed more than two-thirds of Westminster politicians thought they were under-paid.
The expenses watchdog, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), now had responsibility for MPs salaries, they stressed.
Research by the pollsters YouGov for Ipsa, which is reviewing MPs pay and pensions, found 69 per cent of MPs thought they were underpaid on £65,738.
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On average, they recommended a salary of £86,250 – a 32 per cent increase on their current pay.
The Tories, on average, said their salary should be £96,740, while Lib Dems thought the right amount was £78,361 and Labour £77,322. The research found that 27 per cent of the MPs who were asked wanted their pay to go up by more than one per cent over the next two years.
It comes despite public sector rises and most working age benefits being controversially capped at that level. However, nearly two-thirds supported Ipsa's decision to impose the same discipline.
Lib Dem MP for Cheltenham Martin Horwood said it was right that any decision on pay should be made by an independent board rather than by the politicians.
He added: "I am pleased it's now not MPs themselves that have to decide this. We set up Ipsa in order to take the decision away from MPs themselves. I did take a very slight pay cut to work in parliament, but was happy to do that because I wanted to do the job for Cheltenham."
Mr Horwood called on Ipsa to bear in mind the public's reaction in setting MPs pay.
"I do think I would find it difficult to look fire-fighters, civil servants, and teachers in the face if we ask them to freeze their salaries and Ipsa give us a huge pay rise," he said.
Tory MP for Tewkesbury Laurence Robertson said: "We are not setting our own pay. It's for Ipsa to sort out."
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative MP for the Cotswolds declined to comment.
Comments
by ShireMe
Monday, January 14 2013, 9:17PM
“Absolutely DISGUSTING! Perhaps if the politicians wish to join the ranks of those overpaid for failure then they can go find jobs as executives in the private sector. There is no excuse for any job paid for from the public purse to be receiving any pay rise when millions of workers in this country are experiencing incredibly hard times due to their failure and austerity policies. If only the British public could call for a vote of "no confidence" in our Westminster rulers...”
by tishwash
Sunday, January 13 2013, 4:16PM
“£86,250 for 1 mp, or we could employ 3 GCHQ workers looking at their website........... go figure, their pay has been frozen as has many sectors of public pay but not the MPs....”
by bonzaharris1
Sunday, January 13 2013, 4:01PM
“Underpaid on £65,738 !! Lets not forget their fiddled expenses on top of that. Then there is the subsidised bar they can drink from, while considering hiking up the cost of alcohol to the rest of us underlings. Its one ruddy great big trough they need to stick their greedy snouts in !! we are all having to tighten our belts, why can't they can pull theirs in a few notches along with the rest of us.”
by Spud0
Sunday, January 13 2013, 12:33PM
“The government found it easy enough to ignore the independant pay review boards for many public sector workers - double standards yet again.”
by TheNub
Saturday, January 12 2013, 7:41PM
“some health service workers have not had a pay rise for 3 years .and yet these greedy work shy fiddling parasites want a 32% rise .they should hang there heads in shame but they wont they will work the rise in through the back door as well as ripping the tax payer off with there huge expense fiddles .”
by wildman
Saturday, January 12 2013, 3:53PM
“Those poor M.P.s struggling to live.
Oh WAIT, They get far too much money, they get a stupidly high personal expenses allowance, in the meantime WORKERS are struggling to cope because wages have been frozen, astronomical costs of childcare, genuine sick and disabled losing money. carers young and old are on slave labour. families not knowing where their next meal is coming from.
Tell me again MPs you are hard done by!”
by Lecorche
Saturday, January 12 2013, 10:14AM
“Not a problem!
Just use the same pot and only half the number of MPs (with an increased electorate).
Frozen for 3 years.
Sauce for the Geese?”
by Shireresident
Saturday, January 12 2013, 9:49AM
“IPSA may be setting Mr. Robertsons' pay but is there any sign of him repaying the £27000 overpayment of second homes allowance he got away with in the last parliamentary session? That's slightly more than the average wage for a year for ordinary working people. He seems to rack up lots of expenses for at least three parliamentary assistants, his wife, his "partner" and one hard working other. Surely a back bencher like him could cut his cloth accordingly and do what he's always banging on about, provide better value for money for his esteemed services. I must admit though aside from the odd press opportunity, you know the kinda thing------"man of the people deigns to use local shops"------He's not very evident, too busy being important I guess.”
by Scorpio2010
Saturday, January 12 2013, 9:13AM
“Mr Horwood said "I do think I would find it difficult to look fire-fighters, civil servants, and teachers in the face if we ask them to freeze their salaries and Ipsa give us a huge pay rise," There's an easy solution to that one Martin. If IPSA do award you a pay increase, you don't have to take it!”