Now that the fashionable thing for all MPs to do is to announce that they won’t be ‘taking’ the 10 per cent pay rise planned by IPSA, the government has decided to write a letter opposing the extra £7,000, just in case anyone might accuse any MPs of having their snouts in the trough.
Chris Grayling argues in his letter (below) that ‘we continue to believe that despite the welcome signs of progress, the continuing structural deficit shows the job is far from done’.
This is quite a compelling argument, particularly given the ongoing public sector pay restraint.
But regardless of whether you think MPs should get a pay rise or not, there is something rather ridiculous about Parliament setting up a body to take a politically sensitive decision out of politics by setting up an independent regulator that takes binding decisions on their pay, and then getting very upset when the regulator does take that decision on their pay.
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