MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British MPs 1.5% pay increase taking salaries to £ 65.737

PM Office said government ministers will not be accepting the pay rise

British MPs are to get a 1.5% rise from next month bringing their salaries to £ 65.737. The increase of nearly £1,000 is likely to spark fury in the wake of revelations about expenses abuse and with millions of workers across the private and public sectors facing freezes or even cuts.

However, it will come into force automatically as the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) now has the final say on parliamentary pay under arrangements introduced in 2008.

Downing Street moved quickly last night to state that ministers would not take the extra money due to MPs, and had also agreed to freeze their own pay.

A spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister is clear that we need to strengthen public confidence in the political system and reduce the cost of politics.

”That is why paid Government ministers will not be accepting the pay rise in MP salaries generated by the annual formula and based on the average pay award across the public sector in the previous year.
“They will also not be accepting a rise in ministerial salaries this year.”

SSRB chairman Bill Cockburn wrote to Commons Speaker John Bercow at the end of last month to inform him of the rise, which comes into effect on April 1. It calculates awards for MPs based on the median increases given to 15 other groups of public sector workers.

Doctors and dentists, top NHS managers, the judiciary and the Senior Civil Service were all handed increases of 1.5% last year.

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced a one-year pay freeze for the most senior civil servants, NHS managers, GPs and chief executives, last autumn. Opposition Tories have also anticipated they will impose a one-year pay freeze for all public servants earning more than £18,000 if they come to power.