MPs to get 2.9% pay rise

MPs will receive a 2.9 per cent pay rise from 1 April, taking their salaries from £84,144 to £86,584, their financial watchdog has announced.

The £2,440 salary increase comes as households across the UK grapple with cost-of-living pressures, and a wave of strikes by nurses, railway workers, teachers and others over pay disputes as inflation hovers around 10 per cent.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said the increase was the same as the average rise for public-sector employees last year.

Cabinet members also receive a ministerial salary in addition to MPs’ pay.

Last year it was revealed that Boris Johnson and his former ministers were entitled to up to £250,000 in redundancy pay.

Richard Lloyd, chair of the authority, said: “In confirming MPs’ pay for next year, we have once again considered very carefully the extremely difficult economic circumstances, the government’s evolving approach to public-sector pay in the light of forecasted rates of inflation, and the principle that MPs’ pay should be reflective of their responsibility in our democracy.

“Our aim is to ensure that pay is fair for MPs, regardless of their financial circumstances, to support the most diverse of parliaments.

“Serving as an MP should not be the preserve of those wealthy enough to fund it themselves.

“It is important for our democracy that people from any background should see representing their communities in Parliament as a possibility.”

Ipsa was created in 2009, largely as a response to the MPs’ expenses scandal, in an attempt to make the payments more transparent.

In 2015 Ipsa decided to adjust MPs’ pay at the same rate as changes in public-sector earnings published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).