LONDON: Despite opposition by the several fellows, the British lawmakers have won a 10 percent increase in their salaries.
According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), members of parliament would see their basic salary rise from £67,060 to £74,000 ($116,000, 106,000 euros).
Pay rates will then be tied to average rises in public sector wages – which have been capped at one percent per year for another four years as the government tries to eliminate the budget deficit.
Prime Minister David Cameron has branded the pay boost for MPs as “unacceptable” and a petition on the Change.org website calling for the pay rise to be stopped has gathered around 450,000 signatures.
It has caused bitter divisions among MPs themselves, with some decrying the salary boost and others arguing they have long been underpaid compared to other senior public servants.
“Pay has been an issue which has been ducked for decades, with independent reports and recommendations from experts ignored, and MPs’ salaries supplemented by an opaque and discredited system of allowances,” IPSA Chairman Ian Kennedy said. “We have made the necessary break with the past.”
