THE Yes campaign has said that a 10 per cent pay hike for MPs shows that Westminster is "increasingly out of touch".
Marcial Boo, chief executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, reiterated its commitment to the increase, saying that the economy was recovering and politicians should not be paid a "miserly amount". MPs are already due a 1per cent increase to £67,731 next April and under Ipsa's plan it will go up again a month later to £74,000.
Chancellor George Osborne insisted the 10 per cent pay hike for MPs was "unacceptable" and suggested the move will be blocked after the general election, stressing that the Ipsa position was not "final".
"I don't think it is acceptable at a time when there is continuing pay restraint in the public sector that MPs would receive such a big increase," he said. "But this is not the final verdict.
"There will be a report after the election and that's when we are going to have to tackle this issue."
But SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said it was more evidence of a "Westminster establishment that works for the few rather than the many".
He said: "People in Scotland will be shocked that Westminster MPs are in line for a 10 per pay rise - especially when ordinary families across the country are suffering under the same austerity agenda that Westminster itself is imposing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article