Gosport MP, Caroline Dinenage, has today welcomed the announcement from Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) that MP’s pay will remain unchanged for the next financial year.
Last month, Caroline co-signed a joint letter to the interim Chair of IPSA which urged the proposed pay rise for MPs not to go ahead in the current economic circumstances.
IPSA, the independent body responsible for overseeing Members’ pay, pensions and expenses has put forward proposals for the periodic adjustments to MPs’ salaries. This is part of IPSA’s statutory duty to review MPs’ remuneration in the first year of each Parliament.
The letter was written by Dehenna Davison, Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland. It encouraged IPSA to rethink these plans at a time when tough decisions have to be made with public spending to mitigate the damage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commenting, Caroline said:
‘I am pleased that IPSA have made this decision and I entirely agree this is not the time to give MPs a pay rise.
When tough decisions have to be made with public spending to mitigate the damage of the COVID-19 pandemic, to give MPs a pay rise would have been neither appropriate nor justifiable.”