Plans to hike MPs’ pay to £74,000 while the rest of the country suffers austerity have been condemned by all three main party leaders.
Labour’s Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg immediately said they would shun the extra cash, but David Cameron stopped short of committing himself.
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) chairman Sir Ian Kennedy remained defiant, insisting it was doing the right thing and MPs’ pay had to “catch up” after years of being suppressed.
Ipsa revealed proposals for an 11% rise from the current level of £66,396, adding £4.6 million to the Commons salary bill once national insurance is factored in.
The package, due to take effect in 2015, will be offset with curbs to pensions, “golden goodbyes, and expenses for dinners, TV licences and taxis.
Ipsa said the overall burden on the taxpayer will only go up by £500,000 when all the changes are taken into account.
There was an angry response from some MPs who accused Ipsa of opening them to public vitriol.
Downing Street refused to comment on whether or not the Prime Minister would accept the increase, stressing there would be a consultation before the regulator reached a final decision.
“The cost of politics should go down not up,” a No 10 spokesman said. “And MPs’ pay shouldn’t go up while public sector pay is rightly being constrained.”
Mr Miliband said: “I don’t think MPs should be getting a 10% pay rise when nurses and teachers are facing either pay freezes or very low increases and people in the private sector are facing similar circumstances.
“I’m very clear I don’t think this package of proposals should go ahead in the current economic circumstances.”
Mr Clegg said: “I cannot remember a time in modern years where so many millions of people who are getting up every morning, working hard in the public sector to keep our public services going, have been put under such a prolonged period of public sector pay restraint.
“That is, to put it mildly, about the worst time in which you seek then to advocate that MPs should get a double-digit pay increase.”