FURY AT MPs’ £2K PAY RISE
SO MUCH FOR AUSTERITY.. But their staff won’t share in cash bonanza
BY BEN GLAZE THERE was fury yesterday after it emerged that MPs will pocket an inflationbusting pay hike of more than £2000 this year.
Their salaries will soar from £77,379 to £79,468 from April 1, the expenses watchdog said.
That’s a 2.7 per cent rise at a time when the inflation rate is 1.8 per cent – and comes as Westminster is paralysed as MPs row over Brexit.
Meanwhile, benefits remain frozen for a fourth year in a row, meaning a real-terms cut for struggling families.
And the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) raised the total budget for MPs’ staff by just 1.5 per cent, meaning researchers and assistants won’t enjoy the same pay hike as their political masters.
Garry Graham, deputy general secretary of the Prospect union, said: “Our members will see more than a whiff of hypocrisy and double standards in today’s announcement.
“Prospect has long argued for an independent review of pay to cover our members working in the civil service and wider public sector. There has not been a government in peace time so reliant on the hard work and dedication of the civil service and its agencies.
“For MPs to be awarded 2.7 per cent when pay rises for those who serve them are held down at 1.5 per cent or less demonstrates a remarkable level of contempt.”
Labour MP Sir Kevin Barron said: “I’m very disappointed to see that IPSA have awarded MPs a 2.7 per cent pay increase but only 1.5 per cent for parliamentary staff. I urge them to look again at the budgets as it cannot be right that the gap is so great.”
Theresa May’s spokeswoman said: “The decision taken today is independent of Government and Parliament.
“What Government sets are ministerial salaries and they have been frozen since 2010.”
Weekly average earnings across the UK economy increased by 3.4 per cent in the year to December, Office for National Statistics figures show.