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Boris Johnson does not believe MPs should get a pay raise, Downing Street has said.
“The salaries of parliamentarians are obviously decided by an independent body, but under the circumstances, the prime minister does not believe that parliamentarians should receive a salary increase,” the prime minister’s spokesman told reporters.
The intervention comes as the British continue to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid reports that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is on the verge of freezing the pay of millions of public sector workers.
Johnson has previously announced a freeze on ministerial salaries, a sum paid in addition to what they receive as deputies.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which sets MPs’ salaries, last month recommended a £ 3,300 increase from next April.
If enacted, this will take an MP’s annual pay package to over £ 85,000.
In a report published last month, IPSA proposed to continue to link parliamentarians’ salaries to salary growth in the public sector and to use the public sector’s three-month average salary growth for October as a reference.
Its final decision will be released next month.
IPSA Acting Chairman Richard Lloyd said the body has a legal obligation to review the pay of MPs in the first year of each parliament.
“Given the enormous economic uncertainties derived from the coronavirus pandemic, we do not believe it is correct to depart from this approach now, “he said.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has voiced his opposition to the pay increase, telling LBC Radio last month: “We shouldn’t have it.”
The IPSA was created in the wake of the 2009 MPs’ spending scandal to ensure that MPs were not involved in deciding their own remuneration.
