The Last Leg presenter Adam Hills has challenged Labour to donate the recently announced pay rise for all MPs to charity.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that MPs are set to get a 2.9% pay increase, taking their salary from £84,144 to £86,584 from 1 April.
The news was discussed on the topical Channel 4 panel show on Friday night, where Adam and co-host Alex Brooker branded the move “tone deaf”.
Alex said: “It’s pretty tone deaf given the strikes with the nurses at the moment. And you’ve got Rishi Sunk trying to placate them going, ‘Well, we’ll be able to give you a pay rise next year.’ That’s not really how strikes work.”
Adam agreed, and went on to discuss a recent committee suggestion that departing MPs should be presented with a medallion of service when they step down.
He continued: “Do you know what I would love to see Labour do this week, by the way, is go: ‘We’re not going to take the pay rise, we’re going to donate it to charity.’
“What a lovely challenge that would be. What a lovely point that would make.”
Adam was met with a round of applause from the studio audience after making the suggestion.
However, comedian Dara Ó Briain, who was a guest on the show, disagreed.
“Can I say no to that?” he said. “Because yet again, one side of the debate has to be morally pure and the other will just take the cash, and that seems unfair in some ways, and wrong.
“Also the whole point is to encourage people to come into politics, and yeah a lot of them are rotten, but if you’re constantly staying to them, ‘You have to very obviously give your money away whenever you get it,’… I don’t know.”
He concluded: “I think holding Labour to some higher standard just because they’re Labour is wrong.”
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which sets MPs’ pay, previously said that the increase would be the same as the average rise for public sector workers last year.
Ipsa chairman Richard Lloyd said: “In confirming MPs’ pay for next year, we have once again considered very carefully the extremely difficult economic circumstances, the government’s evolving approach to public sector pay in the light of forecasted rates of inflation, and the principle that MPs’ pay should be reflective of their responsibility in our democracy.
“Our aim is to ensure that pay is fair for MPs, regardless of their financial circumstances, to support the most diverse of parliaments.
“Serving as an MP should not be the preserve of those wealthy enough to fund it themselves.
“It is important for our democracy that people from any background should see representing their communities in Parliament as a possibility.”