A political furore erupted last night after it was revealed that MPs are demanding an inflation-busting wage increase of up to £6,000 a year.

 

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Labour and Tory MPs have formed a secret pact which makes a mockery of Gordon Brown's call for wage restraint by forcing through a record pay deal for themselves in the New Year.

 

One reason for the big claim is that many Labour MPs fear they will lose their seats at the next Election - and want to boost their Commons pension rights before it is too late.

 

Well-placed sources say that a report submitted to Downing Street by the Senior Salaries Review Body says MPs' pay should go up from its present £60,675 to about £66,500 over three years - nearly 10 per cent.

 

It involves a 2.8 per cent hike in April followed by index-linked rises in the next two years, in addition to an annual £800 "top-up".

 

As well as their salary, MPs receive generous perks including a second-home allowance, subsidised travel and a gold-plated pension. Commons holidays average four months a year, though MPs claim they pension.

Commons holidays average four months a year, though MPs claim they spend much of this time working in their constituencies.

 

Tory and Labour backbench leaders have had a series of meetings to draw up parliamentary guerrilla tactics aimed at ensuring the bumper award is approved in the Commons in the next few weeks.

 

But they face tough opposition from Mr Brown, who believes the increase would make it impossible for him to resist demands for more pay from other groups - starting with the police.

 

He has told rebel Labour MPs they are being "selfish".

And police leaders warned MPs that they would look greedy if they insisted on an inflation-busting deal.

 

Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said: "My main argument is with Gordon Brown, but MPs do need to take into account what other groups are getting.

"For MPs, explaining to police officers why they need such a large pay rise will be very difficult."

 

The Prime Minister has been warned by Labour Whips that there is a "strong likelihood" the pay rebels will win the Commons vote.

 

He has given orders that it must not clash with his New Year trip to China so he can be in the House in person to oppose the wage demand.

But Labour MPs say they will not back down.

 

"Our pay has fallen further and further behind other similar groups and we are not prepared to put up with it any longer," said one.

 

"We now earn less than some Polish plumbers - and that cannot be right."

Tory MP John Butterfill, a member of the backbench 1922 Committee executive, said: "We do have an official review body which is supposed to make sure we keep in line with other professions. I would hope that the Government agrees with the review body's recommendations."

 

A senior Government source said: "The selfishness of MPs is breathtaking. They have a duty to set an example to others, not to act as though they are a special case.

"We can't tell the police they have to tighten their belts if we hand out huge sums to MPs."

 

One Labour MP admitted privately that the fear of a Tory victory at the next Election - which must take place by May 2010 - is another factor.

If the Conservatives maintain their ten-point lead in the polls, 100 Labour MPs could lose their seats.

 

A big pay rise now would guarantee them a bigger pension. MPs still enjoy a final-salary pension scheme, so the size of their salary when they leave the Commons is directly linked to retirement income.

 

Backbenchers accrue a fortieth of their final salary for every year in Parliament.

This means that MPs elected as recently as 1997 are in line for £20,000 a year if they are voted out at the next Election. Few pension schemes in Britain are so generous.

In addition to their £60,675 annual salary, MPs enjoy other tax-free perks, including up to £22,000 a year to fund a second home.

 

Many use this to pay mortgages on properties bought when they were first elected, which can then be sold at a profit when they leave Parliament.

Some members use staff allowances to employ spouses or other family members as secretaries or researchers.

 

And this year Labour MPs voted to create a new Communications Allowance worth £10,000 annually which can be used to bombard constituents with taxpayersubsidised propaganda leaflets.

 

Despite the extra perks, MPs claim they have been short-changed over the past five years because the Government has repeatedly granted them minimum pay rises.

Under a long-standing arrangement, backbench salaries are supposed to be linked to the basic pay of Grade Six civil servants.

 

However, because an increasing proportion of Whitehall pay now takes the form of discretionary bonuses, basic salary settlements recently have been small.

This meant, for example, that last year MPs received only a 0.66 per cent rise - well below both inflation and average pay settlements in the public sector.

 

MPs campaigning for higher wages claim they need to be paid an extra £3,750 just to make up for the belowinflation pay rises of the past five years and that to catch up with average earnings they need an immediate rise of £5,500.

 

Source : Mail on Sunday

 

 

Do as we say not as we do, bloody hypocrites!

Don't see the big deal tbh

 

MP's are largely professionals such as lawyers, doctors, company directors and so on and they would be earning many times that amount of money in the private sector so I have no probs with them being well compensated for their work

 

It is on the face of it bad timing but 10% is not over a year it is over 3 years and they only got 0.66% last year

 

Lot of fuss about nothing

Don't see the big deal tbh

 

MP's are largely professionals such as lawyers, doctors, company directors and so on and they would be earning many times that amount of money in the private sector so I have no probs with them being well compensated for their work

 

It is on the face of it bad timing but 10% is not over a year it is over 3 years and they only got 0.66% last year

 

Lot of fuss about nothing

 

 

Tell that to the Police

Tell that to the Police

 

Its a complete and utter side issue, what the police think about it is neither here nor there, the fact is that MP's would get 10 times what they earn if they were in the private sector and not MP's so if you want to attract the best people then you have to make it financially attractive for them so who cares what the police think about it, do the police deserve more money ? yes they do, does MP's salary have anything to do with the police ? no

 

One of my friends got a SEVEN % increase this year in his salary and a bigger car allowance, does that entitle me to have a hissy fit ? no so why has mp's salary got anything to do with what police are getting ? complete side issue

 

MP's are giving up QC work, giving up surgery, giving up directorships and so on to serve this country so why has their earnings got anything to do with the police ?

Its a complete and utter side issue, what the police think about it is neither here nor there, the fact is that MP's would get 10 times what they earn if they were in the private sector and not MP's so if you want to attract the best people then you have to make it financially attractive for them so who cares what the police think about it, do the police deserve more money ? yes they do, does MP's salary have anything to do with the police ? no

 

One of my friends got a SEVEN % increase this year in his salary and a bigger car allowance, does that entitle me to have a hissy fit ? no so why has mp's salary got anything to do with what police are getting ? complete side issue

 

MP's are giving up QC work, giving up surgery, giving up directorships and so on to serve this country so why has their earnings got anything to do with the police ?

 

Most of them wouldn't be able to get a real job, they could only work as over paid lawyers, or in PR jobs hardly beneficial to the country. Most of them are embroiled in sleaze, I would not trust a single one of them, and paying them more doesnt make them any better, if anything it makes them worse. They should become MP's to work for the people not be overpaid hangers on. I have never seen a politician that I would trust openly, from any party.

 

What other job can you do, where you vote for your own pay,pension rights etc and get every other punter pay for it.

Its a complete and utter side issue, what the police think about it is neither here nor there, the fact is that MP's would get 10 times what they earn if they were in the private sector and not MP's so if you want to attract the best people then you have to make it financially attractive for them so who cares what the police think about it, do the police deserve more money ? yes they do, does MP's salary have anything to do with the police ? no

 

One of my friends got a SEVEN % increase this year in his salary and a bigger car allowance, does that entitle me to have a hissy fit ? no so why has mp's salary got anything to do with what police are getting ? complete side issue

 

MP's are giving up QC work, giving up surgery, giving up directorships and so on to serve this country so why has their earnings got anything to do with the police ?

I totally agree. Who should be more worried, you or me? :lol:

 

Most MPs work very hard and do indeed do a lot of constituency work while Parliament is not sitting. As for the second home allowance, that seems perfectly fair. A lot of MPs represent constituencies a long way from Westminster so they need two homes unless people want to return to the days when MPs only visited their constituencies when they had to. In some cases, that could be as seldom as a few times each election campaign. Yes, there are some MPs whose expenses claims seem somewhat excessive. A couple years ago there was an MP whose mileage claim seemed rather high given that their constituency was within Greater London. But at least these figures are now published and that particular MP claimed a much lower mileage allowance the following year.

Its a complete and utter side issue, what the police think about it is neither here nor there, the fact is that MP's would get 10 times what they earn if they were in the private sector and not MP's so if you want to attract the best people then you have to make it financially attractive for them so who cares what the police think about it, do the police deserve more money ? yes they do, does MP's salary have anything to do with the police ? no

 

One of my friends got a SEVEN % increase this year in his salary and a bigger car allowance, does that entitle me to have a hissy fit ? no so why has mp's salary got anything to do with what police are getting ? complete side issue

 

MP's are giving up QC work, giving up surgery, giving up directorships and so on to serve this country so why has their earnings got anything to do with the police ?

 

WRONG!!! It is not a side-issue at all.. What does MPs pay have to do with Police..? Well, the tiny fact that, at the end of the day, that both the Police and MPs are PUBLIC SERVANTS and both work in the PUBLIC SECTOR is probably the main thing.... MPs are basically jumped-up civil/public servants, so why the hell should THEY be getting all these priveledges that are not afforded to other public sector employees...? Total double standards in my view.... I dont give a sh!t if they've given up jobs in the "private sector" or not, and who the hell says that the vast majority of these 645 people even are the "best people" for the job...? I think all the evidence that we have seen in the past 20 years or so proves the entire opposite to that presumption..... The only things most MPs seem to be the "best" at is kissing arse and screwing the people of this country.... <_<

craig.... you are talking bollox again

 

why should the people in charge of running the country dictate to eveyone else what payrise they can have then award themselves more?.... :lol: barmy! hypocritical in the extreme.

 

besides if they can earn more as lawyers then let them BE lawyers and not VOLUNTEER themselves to be mp's. they know the pay/conditions when they seek election....

why should the people in charge of running the country dictate to eveyone else what payrise they can have then award themselves more?.... :lol: barmy! hypocritical in the extreme.

 

Spot on... They're telling the Police to "like it or lump it" with a pathetic, BELOW INFLATION RATE pay rise which is vitually worthless in real terms, and now are quite happily themselves enjoying a huge pay hike with all the nice trimmings as well - tidy pensions, second home allowances (These people aint heard of renting accomodation then....?), various other expenses that they screw out of the UK taxpayers as well..... Nice little gravy train if you can get on it, this MP malarkay....

 

In my view, this just makes the Police's case for taking some sort of strike action all the more strong....