Pay rise for MPs as cost of living crisis worsens

So it was announced recently the good news for our 650 Members of Parliament who are to receive a 2.7 per cent increase in their pay.

The award by the Independent

Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) is justified as recognition for all their hard work over the last two years when no increases were made.

The actual figures are £81,932 to £84,144 plus expenses.

Many people will say immediately: “What about the hard work of all the UK population of having to live with all the COVID restrictions, vaccinations and the many changes to working patterns and employment in general?”

Instead, people have been ‘rewarded’ by further assaults on their living standards including the fundamental changes to the state pensions Triple Lock, the permanent cut in the Universal Credit uplift and a rise of

1.25 percentage points in National

Insurance payments for those working in April 2022.

And all this coupled with rising inflation as shown by increasing food prices, soaring energy bills and a resulting hike in rent bills for all those who already find affordable housing impossible to access.

For the many, the future is bleak and begs the question that although MPs are of all descriptions, is the Westminster Bubble really in touch?

STEVE TAYLOR Chair, Slough & District Trades Union Council