City council set to appoint new leader

MEMBERS OF Parliament will be given a 1.8 per cent pay rise, taking their basic salary to £77,379 from April 1, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has confirmed.

The additional salary paid to House of Commons select committee chairs will also rise by 1.8 per cent, taking pay to £15,509.

Ipsa said the moves were in line with a commitment made in July 2015 to adjust MPs’ pay at the same rate as changes in public-sector earnings published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

But the increase is well above the one per cent annual cap imposed on most public-sector workers since 2010, although it lags behind inflation of three per cent.

MPs enjoyed a 1.4 per cent rise in their basic salary in 2017 to the current £76,011 and a 1.3 per cent rise in 2016.

From April, their salary will have risen by a total of 17.7 per cent since the introduction of the Government’s austerity programme, including public-sector pay freezes and caps, in 2010.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “This is an independent decision by Ipsa, independent of Government and Parliament.

“Obviously it’s important that MPs no longer set their own pay.” AN EXTRAORDINARY general meeting is to be held next week as York Council looks to appoint a new leader.

The authority is being led by interim head Coun Andrew Waller after the ousting of former leader David Carr, who quit the local Conservative party last week, citing “betrayal” within its ranks.

Councillors are to meet on the evening of Thursday, March 8 to consider nominations and the appointment.

Urgent talks have been held over recent days between the city’s political parties, after the dramatic resignation Carr on February 22.

Coun Carr, who had been asked to step down as leader after a vote of no confidence, had submitted his resignation to the local Conservatives, leaving the joint Lib Dem administration with a majority of just one. of Coun