[Mrluvaluva]

The vast majority of MPs believe they are underpaid and want their salaries hiked by more than £20,000, a new survey has revealed.

Parliament's sleaze watchdog conducted an anonymous survey as it prepared its first public consultation on MPs' pay and pensions.

It revealed that 69% of those questioned want more money and that, on average, they believe they should receive £86,250 every year.

This is a 32% increase on their current salary of £65,738 and more than three times the average salary in the UK.

The survey by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) also found more than a third believe they should keep generous final salary pensions.

Some 35% believe they should keep the final salary system, compared to 36% who believe they should switch to a career average in line with the rest of the private sector.

Ipsa has also now decided that it is not going to look at altering pay based on what MPs earn outside the Commons, or at performance-related pay or regional variations.

In its report, it has confirmed MPs' pay will rise by 1% in 2013 and another 1% in 2014 as the public sector pay freeze in place since 2010 is eased.

Controversially, the survey found 27% of MPs believe their pay should rise by more over the next two years despite benefits and public sector pay being capped at that level.

Some 53% also wanted to bring back so-called "golden goodbyes" worth tens of thousands of pounds that were previously handed to MPs who stood down voluntarily.

YouGov conducted online interviews with 100 MPs on Ipsa's behalf, and weighted the results slightly to represent the Commons by party, gender, year elected,and geography.

Conservatives were the most likely to believe they were underpaid, with 47% saying that was the case. Some 39% of Labour members and 9% of Lib Dems held the same view.

On average, Tories said their salary should be £96,740, while Lib Dems thought the right amount was £78,361 and Labour £77,322. Other parties put the figure at £75,091.

One MP said they should be paid £40,000 or less, 5% said £60-65,000 was fair and 17% went for £65-£70,000. A fifth of those questioned said they should be paid £95,000 or more.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Hiking politician's wages at a time of pay freezes, benefit caps and necessary spending cuts would be completely unpalatable to taxpayers.

"To do so would suggest that there is one rule for MPs and another for the rest of the country. There is zero appetite for a pay rise for MPs as borne out by the polling of the public commissioned by Ipsa.

"Most people clearly think that an MP's salary is currently about right."

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis added: "At a time when millions of workers are getting zero pay rises, the idea that MPs believe they deserve a 32% increase is living in cloud cuckoo land."

Ipsa chairman Sir Ian Kennedy, said: "In the past, MPs have agreed their pay and pensions among themselves.

"So this new approach of independent decision making marks a real and important change and is another crucial step in helping Parliament to regain the trust of the public.

"The consultation we held over the autumn has been hugely informative and important in directing our thinking.

"It also serves to show the spread of views and depth of feeling on this issue. We remain committed to listening and I would urge people to get involved in this debate."

The watchdog will continue examining the issues before publishing proposals in the spring, when there will be another consultation.

It plans to publish details of the new remuneration package in autumn this year, and they should take effect from the next Parliament in 2015.


Sky


It's such a shame for them. I think their wage rises should be capped at 0.1%.

[King Gizzard]

If they can promise they do a good job to the best of their abilities then why not, they're some of the most important people in the country

[joeysteele]

I actually do think MPs are underpaid in reality, whether this is the time to start touting for more though is debatable.

[Jack_]

Maybe when they've stopped cutting money to those at the bottom they'll be more deserving of a pay rise themselves.

[Mrluvaluva]

Yeah because £65,000 with subsidies just isn't enough.

[Omah]

The current batch of MPs are increasingly self-serving career opportunists, who have never had a proper job outside of the political arena, going from researcher, to special advisor to MP after university, and who have no experience of the "real" world.

A study by the House of Commons Library reveals a dramatic rise in the number of so-called professional politicians, whose numbers have increased almost four-fold over the past 30 years.

Ninety MPs have never held a job outside politics, against 20 in 1982.

Working class MPs, who played a key role in the politics of the last century, have become an endangered species. Just 25 former manual workers were elected as MPs in 2010, compared to 98 in 1979. Almost all of them are Labour MPs.

Luckily, Ipsa took control of MPs' pay and pensions in October last year - so MPs no longer get a vote on it.

[Kizzy]

'A fifth of those questioned said they should be paid £95'000 or more'...
#****ingunbelievable

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

'A fifth of those questioned said they should be paid £95'000 or more'...
#****ingunbelievable

You can safely assume those are the ones with "outside interests" in 'media consultancy', too .....

[Shasown]

Originally Posted by Omah

You can safely assume those are the ones with "outside interests" in 'media consultancy', too .....

Not only media consultancy, I bet most of them still dont fully declare outaide interests and freebies.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Shasown

Not only media consultancy, I bet most of them still dont fully declare outaide interests and freebies.

You'd win that bet - easily .....

[Livia]

I should probably just requote what I said last time we had this discussion, but anyway, here goes again.

The reason politics is dominated by rich people is that the salary isn't even equal to a middle-management salary in the private sector. Therefore, when working or middle-class people get their degree they usually use it to build a lucrative career and earn as much as they can, which rather rules out a career in politics. There is no job security like there may be in other professions. Once Parliament is dissolved before an election, the MP is no longer an MP. He may or may not have a job after the election so it's effectively a series of four or five year contracts if he or she is lucky. Like them or hate them, MPs have a lot of responsibility (I'm talking about in their constituencies mostly, where they are responsible for helping every constituent who approaches them) and take a lot of shtick, whether or not they deserve it, and really, some don't deserve it. The Chief executive of my local council earns five times the salary of my local MP. She also gets all the perks of working for the local authority.

Some MPs did abuse the expenses system, but not all of them by any means. And now IPSA is so tight it's hard to screw a little stationery out of them. And if an MP is going to fiddle the system or not declare an interest, he's going to lose his job if he's found out. It's harder now to hide things like that - and rightly so.

If you want to have a House of Commons that better reflects society, then MPs need to be paid a salary that is at least on a par with the private sector, or you’re always going to end up with career politicians making extra cash through the Old Boy Network and relaxing on their trust fund.