MPs' pay rise will go ahead despite criticism
The regulator behind plans to give MPs an 11 per cent pay rise has insisted the planned increase will go ahead despite criticism of the proposal from the public and politicians including David Cameron.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority published its recommendations today to increase MPs pay to £74,000 in 2015, an 11 per cent rise on what they are currently paid.
ITV News' Political Editor Tom Bradby reports:
Under the plans, MPs will have to increase contributions to their pensions:
A one-off uplift in salary to £74,000 in 2015, an 11% rise on their current salaries.
MPs' pay to be linked to average earnings - if they go up, so will MPs'
Scrapping of "resettlement payments" worth tens of thousands of pounds per MP - to be replaced with "more modest" loss-of-office payments
MPs will pay more into their pensions, putting them on par with those in other parts of the public sector
Expenses and business costs will be more strictly monitored, and MPs will no longer be able to claim for their evening meal
The move has prompted widespread criticism, and both the Prime Minister and Labour leader Ed Miliband have issued thinly veiled threats that the watchdog faces abolition if it presses ahead with the reforms.
Read: Miliband: MPs' pay rise 'undermines public trust'
The Taxpayers' Alliance said Ipsa had demonstrated it was "not fit for purpose" after its recommendations.
"The body which ought to be representing the interests of voters and taxpayers has unceremoniously put two fingers up at the lot of us," spokesman Jonathan Isaby said.
The chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) defended his decision to increase MPs' pay, arguing that the overall package will "not cost the taxpayer a penny more".
Speaking to ITV News, Sir Ian Kennedy said the authority had been playing "catch up" after previous recommendations to increase MPs' pay were ignored.