Boris Johnson “doesn’t believe that MPs should be getting a pay rise this year”, his Number 10 spokesman has declared in the clearest public sign that a pay freeze is coming.
There has been wide-scale backlash over the £3,000 increase in politician’s wages this year after nurses were shunned and other public sector workers get lined up to bear the brunt of major cost cuts.
Matt Hancock earlier refused to commit to not taking the pay increase, despite MPs on the opposition benches signing up to it.
Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan said she would refuse the pay rise, saying: “Millions face job uncertainty and to give us MPs a payrise now just sends the wrong message and highlights the economic divide in our country.”
But in a clear sign that the PM is planning to go ahead with a public sector pay freeze, his spokesperson said the proposed increase from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) could be shunned.
“MPs’ salaries are obviously decided by an independent body but given the circumstances, the PM doesn’t believe MPs should be receiving a pay rise,” he told reporters.
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