MPs are set for a £2,000 pay rise on April 1 — the day struggling Brits will be hit by rising bills.
As rows over a cost of living “tsunami” engulf the Government, another is brewing over giving MPs the scheduled hike to their £81,932 salary.
April Fools Day will see families whacked with a National Insurance hike, higher gas bills, more council tax and a million extra dragged into higher income tax rates.
The nation’s woes have sparked calls to freeze MPs’ pay for the second year. And Parliamentary chiefs are still deciding exactly how much MPs will get — with a decision due within weeks.
MPs’ annual pay hikes are normally linked to average public sector pay increases — published by the Office for National Statistics — which would see a 2.7 per cent automatic increase for MPs.
But IPSA — the expenses body — has suspended normal rules because of Covid, and has the power to freeze any rise or make it smaller.
It said last night: “A decision on MPs’ pay for 2022-23 will be taken early in 2022” adding it “will take into account ONS data as well as other relevant information”. But the Taxpayers’ Alliance told Trending In The News: “Now is not the time for MPs to get a pay rise.”
Its boss, John O’Connell, said: “Politicians’ pay should be linked to the country’s economic performance — to show we’re all in it together.”
Senior Tories are still bickering over whether PM Boris Johnson is doing enough to help struggling families.
Powerful backbencher Jake Berry warned yesterday Red Wall voters will abandon the Tories as the PM has not paid enough attention to the cost of living “tsunami”.
He told Times Radio yesterday it could cost the Tories the next election. Chancellor Rishi Sunak insisted last night “I am always listening” as ministers try to thrash out plans to help struggling families.
