POLL: MPs' pay rise - Do you agree?

MPs have been given a pay rise worth nearly £1,000 a year – just 12 months after their salaries went up by 10 per cent.

From April MPs will see pay packets rise 1.3 per cent from £74,000 to £74,962, a total increase of £7,902 since 2014.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) confirmed yesterday it would move ahead with the controversial new salary increase from April.

It amounts to a boost of £962 and breaks a one per cent cap on public sector pay rises after IPSA included bonuses paid to civil servants in its calculation.

The figure is more than a third higher than the average UK increase over the last year of £624. It means MPs wages are now almost three times higher than the UK average.

An IPSA spokesman 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 of National Statistics (ONS).

"The ONS index takes account of promotions and bonuses which may explain why the figure is higher than the one per cent wider public sector pay policy."

In the run-up to the general election the Prime Minister described the planned 10 per cent rise as 'simply unacceptable' and threatened to scrap IPSA unless it backed down. But after being returned to office he dropped the issue.

IPSA chairman Sir Ian Kennedy has defended the latest rise. He said: "In making the decision on MPs' pay we were very aware of the strongly held views of the public and by some MPs.

"Instead of linking MPs' pay to wages in the whole economy, it is now linked to public sector pay.

"Over the last Parliament, MPs' pay increased by two per cent, compared to five per cent in the public sector and 10 per cent in the whole economy."

When the salary rise was leaked at the start of this month, Labour MP Gloria de Piero said: "I'm concerned that yet again this looks like our pay is going up quicker than other public sector workers like police, nurses and teachers.

"If their pay is capped at 1 per cent, why shouldn't ours be?"