MPs set for £10,000-a-year pay rise
Just hours after outcry over MPs’ attempts to censor documents detailing their extravagances it emerges they are in line for higher wages
19 June 2009
MPs are set for a £10,000-a-year pay rise despite the public outrage over the Commons expenses scandal.
Just 24 hours after the outcry over MPs’ attempts to censor documents detailing their extravagances, it emerged that they are in line for higher wages.
Bill Cockburn, head of the independent Senior Salaries Review Body, which will set MPs’ pay later this year, confirmed: "In our view, their pay is 10 to 15 per cent below what it should be."
Backbenchers currently receive £64,766 a year; frontbenchers are paid far more.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he was furious at the prospect of the salary hike. He added: "At a time when thousands are losing their jobs, it is simply wrong for MPs to get a pay rise."
"Against the background of the expenses scandal this is a disgrace"
Mark Wallace, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "Wage rises for MPs in a recession would be unacceptable at any time, but against the background of the expenses scandal this is a disgrace.
"Far too many MPs have demonstrated their willingness to cash in at taxpayers’ expense. There is no justification for them to get a rise. This is an obscene suggestion."
Meanwhile, it emerged some 200 MPs had paid back almost £500,000 in expenses since the scandal broke.
The list includes David Cameron, who announced he would return £947.29, which includes £680 in repair bills on his constituency home in Oxfordshire, where taxpayers paid for wisteria to be removed from his chimney.
Gordon Brown has agreed to pay back £150 after mistakenly claiming twice for a plumbing bill.
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