Nearly 70 per cent of MPs believe that a salary of £65,738 is not enough and they should be paid up to 32 per cent more – despite being told that they should not see their pay rise by any more than 1 per cent.
In a survey by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), this view was held by 47 per cent of Conservative MPs (who thought they should get £96,740), 39 per cent of Labour MPs (£77,322) and 9 per cent of Lib Dems (£78,361).
Ipsa’s chairman Sir Ian Kennedy pointed out that in the past, MPs had agreed among themselves what pay and pensions they should get. This new approach of independent decision-making marked “a real and important change and another crucial step in helping parliament to regain the trust of the public”, he said, adding: “We remain committed to listening and I would urge people to get involved in this debate.”
Commenting on the survey, David Cameron’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister’s view is that MPs’ pay is a matter for Ipsa. The ‘I’ in Ipsa stands for ‘independent’.”
However, public sector unions said that the findings showed that MPs from all parties had real contempt for the plight of families across the country struggling to make ends meet.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “At a time when millions of workers are getting zero pay rises, the idea that MPs believe they deserve a 32 per cent increase is living in cloud cuckoo land. MPs should get real about pay.”
• Some reports today have claimed that the cost of ‘keeping’ an MEP is around £1.8m a year. This claim was made nearly FOUR years ago on the Poland and Polish Discussion Group and Forum, which said: “Jun 4, 2009 – On average UK MPs cost GBP 360k a head. MEPs cost GBP 1.8m a head. MEPs have voted to keep their expenses secret.”
What about all those on low wages who actually work for it? I believe that when talking about pay increases, the MP’s should set a national precident. Whatever the MP’s get – let that be the increase for ALL public sector workers. After you with the trough Mr (Mrs/Miss/Ms) MP.
This debate comes on the back of 2 high street retailers (Jessops and HMV) announcing closures and the redundancy of many workers.
MP’s are still getting expenses paid which for many would cover a salary on a monthly basis, they are so out of touch with the reality in which the majority of the british public are living in that it is beyond belief that they would expect to get an icrease that in many cases is more than an annual salary.
If ‘we are all in this together’ I am not aware that I see any behaviours or activities which indicate that this is the case – and David Cameron’s line – the I stands for independant is used to make sure that he does not upset MP’s by disagreeing with their views or upset the public by agreeing! Get them in line – tell them to get in touch with reality and be grateful they are not having to make the decision whether or not to have food themselves or feed their children like many hard working british people are having to do.
Disgusted!
Pigs snouts in troughs springs to mind!
Absolutely disgusted, the rich get rich the poor get poorer
they should live in the real world. In the North the average
annual income is far below £20,000 for working more than
40hours per week.
Now is the time to introduce attendance records and performance related pay , also readjust pay to match local authority pay increases i.e. reduction of approx 14% fron current salary, also a time to reduce the number of MP’s by at least 50%, a time to stop MP’s travelling abroad to look how things go on in other countries, try the internet its full of information. if this fails make your MpP work, dont’t reelect him or her.
Mere words cannot describe how much I am appalled by the greed shown by the insensitive MP’s who think they deserve such a huge pay rise; can’t they get by by continuing to fiddle their expenses?
It’s about time someone with backbone stops the blatant fraud and ensures these hypocrites are firmly put in their places.
Most people in the country (maybe excepting the ‘Fat Cat’ Bankers etc) are having to get by with little or no pay increases despite increases in daily living; maybe these greedy individuals should try living on a budget? they might learn a valuable lesson!