David Cameron U-turns from his opposition to pay rises for MPs as salaries set to hit £74,000
Members of Parliament are set to see their annual salaries rise by 10.3 per cent, to £74,000 in September, according to a new report from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
Despite previously saying that the above-inflation pay rises were “simply unacceptable,” Prime Minister David Cameron has now said he will not stop them.
IPSA, an independent body formed in 2009 after the expenses scandal, originally proposed the salary hikes in 2013. Yesterday, the authority said there appeared to be no “material” reason to alter its proposals, and that unless “new evidence” emerged in the next month, MPs will get a bump in their pay packets by the end of the summer.
The Prime Minister’s spokeswoman said that the government would not submit new evidence to IPSA. The spokeswoman also said that Cameron, who collects a salary as an MP, would not voluntarily forego the pay rise himself if it went ahead.