With all of the palaver over the weekend about the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) announcing that MPs were to receive an 11% increase in their salary in 2015, OnTheWight got in touch with Isle of Wight MP, Andrew Turner, to seek his views on the proposal.
As the law stands, the MPs are unable to refuse the pay rise, so OnTheWight also asked, “would he donate it to a good cause if forced to take it?”.
Andrew Turner responds
Andrew’s responses are below:-
“The weekend news reports about an 11% increase in pay for MPs after the next election are based on what the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is expected to announce later this week.
“The Government and MPs no longer have any say in setting pay or pensions; the decision is solely for IPSA. My own view is that such a move would be both ill-judged and ill-timed and I hope IPSA will reconsider. They should have taken overall public service pay and pensions restraint into account when making their recommendations.
“I await the detailed proposals, but in any event they will not be final. There must be a further statutory review by IPSA after the next election. However, if these reports are correct and there is no way to refuse it, I would pass the increase I receive from such a large pay rise to good causes on the Island for the duration of the next Parliament.
