MPs awarded 2.33% salary increase
MPs are to receive a pay rise of 2.33% from 1 April, bringing their
annual salary to about £64,766.
Rules introduced last year fixed the increase at the average received
over the previous year by 15 different groups of public sector workers.
The Westminster salary rise comes at a time when many workers are facing
no pay rise, or even reductions.
Gordon Brown has announced a freeze in ministerial salaries, calling it
the "right thing to do".
Those ministers who are MPs will also forego the £1,500 rise in their
parliamentary pay to which they are entitled, the prime minister's
spokesman said.
The Conservatives announced they would match that ministerial pay freeze
for David Cameron and shadow Lords leader Lord Strathclyde - and pledged
to impose a pay freeze for ministers in 2010/11 if they are in
government.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and his deputy, Vince Cable, will
also not take up the rise, the party said.
Last week figures revealed that inflation, judged by the Consumer Prices
Index, had risen to 3.2% in February this year.
Allowances
But the Retail Prices Index, which includes mortgage costs, fell to zero
in the same month.
MPs' basic pay is topped up by expenses and allowances worth up to
around £180,000 a year to pay for their offices, staff and travel and
the cost of spending time away from home while working at Westminster.
Ministers also receive pay on top of their MPs' salary.
Mr Brown, speaking at a Downing Street press conference, said: "Last
year and this year ministers will have no pay rise.
"Their pay has been frozen. That's the right thing to do when people are
suffering in the economy.
"I made that decision myself and ministers have supported that decision
because it's the right thing to do."
Mr Brown's spokesman said all cabinet ministers consulted on the freeze
had agreed to it on behalf of themselves and their more junior
ministerial colleagues.
An inquiry has been ordered into the whole question of MPs' pay and
expenses following a series of controversies, including allegations
relating to claims for second home allowances from Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith and work minister Tony McNulty.
The chairman of the Senior Salaries Review Body, Bill Cockburn, wrote to
Commons Speaker Michael Martin on Friday to inform him that he had
calculated this year's average at 2.33%.
The rise is based on those of public sector employees ranging from
judges and senior military officers to teachers, NHS workers and council
employees.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.
Published: 2009/03/30 16:24:27 GMT
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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