MPs' pay rise: Large increase is 'inappropriate', Margaret Hodge warns, The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) will say that MPs’ pay should increase by more than £6,500 after the next election, following claims that political salaries have lagged behind those of other professions.The salary increase of around 10 per cent will be offered in exchange for smaller pensions and expenses.
MPs are braced for public outcry over the salary increase and many will come under pressure to reject the extra money.
One MP said he and his colleagues will now be "bombarded" by furious constituents over the pay rise.
Ipsa will say that the decision should be “reviewed in the first year of the next parliament” in the light of economic conditions.
Senior political sources claimed that the increase was therefore “pie in the sky” and that the next government would have to find a way to block the proposal in order to avert public anger.
“The review gives political leaders a 'get out of jail’ card as everyone will have to campaign at the next election on a pledge to stop this pay rise unless there is an economic boom,” said a well-placed source.
Labour's Margaret Hodge, who chairs the powerful Commons public accounts committee, told BBC’s Newsnight programme that the increase is "inappropriate".
“I think it's inappropriate at a time when we are asking public sector workers to take a 1 per cent increase in their pay,” she said. “We are public workers, we are public sector workers, that's how I see myself.”
Asked if that meant she would not accept the rise, she replied: "I'm not going to enter into a Dutch auction of 'I'll do it for £30,000, I'll do it for...'.
"In the end some young MPs will do it for ten, twenty (thousand) some might even pay to take their seats and then you are back to the rotten boroughs of the 19th century when people bought their seats."
Party leaders’ opposition to the recommendations has provoked anger from some back-bench MPs.
Sir Ian Kennedy, the chief executive of Ipsa, said last week that pay should reflect the “crucial role” of MPs in a democracy and that politics should not be restricted to those of “independent means”.
He is expected to propose the 10 per cent pay rise from the current £66,396 a year, accompanied by a “dramatic” cut in the final salary pension offered to MPs, one of the most generous available.
A range of expenses, including the dinner allowance and lump sum payment to MPs leaving Parliament will also be scrapped or cut.
Pay will then rise in line with average earnings to avoid an annual showdown.
Writing on the Spectator website, Tory MP Conor Burns questioned whether the timing of the pay rise represented "errant genius or malice" on Ipsa's part.
"Leaving aside for a moment whether it is warranted, what exactly would this be saying to the public?" he said.
"Can we seriously on the one hand say that we need public sector pay restraint (the private sector is largely self-frozen), that we must all make sacrifices to repair the economy and reduce the deficit if at the same time we accept a large increase to our basic pay?"
Mr Burns said that the pay increase will be "more than offset by a change to the pension arrangements".
He added: "So we are asked to accept a headline pay increase that most members of the public would find eye watering and an overall package that would be worse than now."
John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, condemned the proposed pay rise and predicted that he and his collegues will be "bombarded" by angry constituents.
“The rest of the country, public and private sector, people out there, people watching now, are having their pay frozen and MPs cannot be different," he told ITV's Daybreak programme.
“Well, there’s loads of unique jobs out there. Everyone does a unique job. MPs are no different to the rest of the world and this idea that there’s some special species called MPs. It’s total nonsense. We are there to represent the country as best we can and therefore to remain in touch. If they are suffering, we suffer.
“I don’t know any MP who checked out the salary before becoming an MP. That’s not why you become an MP. You put yourself forward to try and improve things on behalf of your local area as best you see it. It’s not about the money. It never should be about the money.”
He added: “I don’t think it will go through. I don’t think this will go through. I think that in the real world, MPs are going to get bombarded by their constituents and even those who would like to take the money are going to have to vote against it.”
Title: MPs' pay rise: Large increase is 'inappropriate', Margaret Hodge warns
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