Local MPs question pay

It could be £74,000 a year if a proposal to hike their salaries by 10 per cent is adopted.
MPs used to set their own salaries but following the expenses scandal in 2009, the decision was given to an outside body, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
MPs currently start on a basic salary of £66,396 a year but this could rise to £74,000 from 2015 if the proposals go ahead although pensions and expenses would be reduced.
Announcing the proposals, IPSA chairman, Sir Ian Kennedy, said historically, MPs pay had been a “catalogue of fixes, fudges and failures to act,” but the proposals would be fair to taxpayers and MPs.
“This package ends the historic peculiarities that have grown up around MPs’ pay, and sets MPs’ pensions on a sustainable footing for the future,” he said.
“I recognise some will just concentrate on the salary, rather than the package as a whole, and say it’s too high; others that it’s too low. There is no easy way forward on this.
The body has also proposed that MPs produce an annual report on their activities - detailing what they are doing to earn taxpayers money.
The proposals were met with outrage from the chief executive of the TaxPayers Alliance, Matthew Sinclair, who said the announcement amounted to an “unaccountable quango putting up two fingers to the British public”.
"The idea of hiking MPs' pay when everyone else has been suffering such a squeeze on their earnings is totally unpalatable. MPs do an important job and work hard, but they already earn nearly three times the national average and more than most of their European counterparts,” he said.
The proposal was also pooh-poohed by the MP for Newbury, Richard Benyon (Conservative), who said that he thought the proposals were “bizarre.”
“I do not think its appropriate at this time to see MPs pay going up at a time when we are seeing a restriction in public pay. It does seem a bizarre proposal,” he said.
“I want to make it clear that I do not claim a second home allowance and that I am below the staffing allowance and I have had a five per cent pay cut and a freeze. I feel I am playing my part in reducing the cost of government but I hope that all my constituents who are concerned about this contribute to the consultation.”
Also critical was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Newbury, Judith Bunting (Lib Dem), who said: “The pay increase for MPs that’s been proposed by IPSA is utterly unreasonable given the current economic situation. MPs are public servants. Any increase in their pay should be in line with the one per cent awarded recently to the rest of the public sector.
“MPs can’t expect to be taken seriously if they award themselves a 10 per cent pay rise when the rest of the country is suffering.
“I definitely think that MPs deserve to be well paid because of the responsibility they carry and the important work they do. MPs should be treated the same as teachers, nurses, firemen and other public sector workers.”
The MP for Wokingham, John Redwood, said: “MPs salaries are decided by an independent body, IPSA. This body has proposed a rise for MPs in 2015 and are now consulting on that proposal. People who disagree with the amount IPSA suggest should send in their objections and their idea for post 2015 salaries to IPSA as part of the consultation process.”
The MP for Reading West, Alok Sharma, was unavailable to comment.
Due to the proposals being set by an independent body MPs will not get to vote on the scheme. However, MPs pay is due to rise to £67,060 in April next year, with a further one per cent rise the following year.
The consultation runs until October this year and IPSA is set to publish a final determination in autumn.
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