MPs are to receive an inflation-busting pay rise to take their salaries to nearly £94,000 a year, it has been confirmed.
The move emerged just days before Rachel Reeves is set to unveil a fresh round of public sector spending cuts.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, IPSA, said MPs will see their pay increase by 2.8% from next month, taking it from £91,346 to £93,904.
When it was first recommended in February, the rate of inflation was 2.5%. However, the most recent figure put it at 3% for the year to January.
IPSA said the salary hike is in line with wider government pay recommendations for public sector workers.
The government does not have any say in MPs’ pay – but this decision will not exactly help Downing Street’s image right now.
The news comes as austerity fears rise and chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to inflict even deeper cuts in the public sector to address the economic gloom the UK is currently staring down.
She already cut £5bn from the welfare budget earlier this month.
The prime minister’s spokesperson pointed out that the government is separate to any such pay rises when speaking to reporters this morning.
He said: “IPSA is independent. I’m not aware that MPs have any power to reject a pay rise. It’s up to every individual MP as to what they do with their salary.”
IPSA has to review MPs’ salaries within the first year of a new parliament under the Parliamentary Standards Act.
It will hold further consultations to look at their pay for the rest of the parliamentary term in the upcoming months.
At the start of the last parliament in 2019, MPs were paid £79,468.
The watchdog last increased MPs’ pay in February 2024, taking it from £86,584 to £91,346.
When they first suggested the pay rise in February, the IPSA chair Richard Lloyd said: “IPSA has been responsible for deciding MPs’ pay since 2011. Since then, our aim has been to make fair decisions on pay, both for MPs and the public.
“Our pay proposal for 2025-26 reflects the experience of the wider working public sector population, and recognises both the vital role of MPs and the current economic climate.”
When the plan was first proposed last month, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance John O’Connell, said this would be “bitter pill” for the public.
“This will be a bitter pill to swallow given politicians of both front benches have for years hammered the living standards of taxpayers,” he said.
“MPs are guilty of delivering a record high tax burden, persistent inflation and struggling services, yet are now being rewarded for this catalogue of failures.”