MPs to receive £76,000 as pay rises for second time in two years

MPs will be given a £1,049 pay rise from April which will see their salaries rise to £76,011, while public sector workers face a continued cap.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has announced that MPs’ pay will rise by 1.4 per cent, the second hike since the general election.

Theresa May’s official spokesman yesterday distanced her from the rise, saying it was a “matter for MPs” but did not say whether she will accept it herself. Pay rises in the public sector are capped at 1 per cent a year until 2020.

Ipsa said: “This is in line with our determination on MPs’ pay, published in July 2015, where we committed to adjusting MPs’ pay for the rest of this parliament at the same rate as changes in public sector earnings published by the Office for National Statistics .”

In 2015, Ipsa made the decision to increase MPs’ salaries by 10 per cent last year from £67,000 to £74,000.

The move triggered a spate of politicians promising to refuse to take the rise and donate the extra money to charity.

Under a system designed to take the issue out of political control, MPs’ salaries are automatically linked to the Office for National Statistics’ calculation of average public sector pay.

The increase, which is calculated on the basis of all payments on public sector payslips, including bonuses, is automatic and not subject to approval in parliament.

Ministerial salaries, which are controlled by the Government, have been frozen until 2020.

However, the pay rise is below inflation, which hit a two-and-a-half-year high of 1.8 per cent in January and is expected to head towards three per cent later this year.