The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has ordered its previously recommended pay rise for MPs to be scrapped after coming under pressure from MPs.
Prime minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Ipsa not to go ahead with the increase previously announced in October.
Announcing the pay freeze to MPs, Richard Lloyd, said the raise would be “inconsistent” with what voters are experiencing.
Writing to MPs Lloyd said: “The unprecedented impact of the Covid pandemic has had an unexpected, but different, effect on public and private sector earnings.
“It is clear that applying the forthcoming official statistic for public sector earnings growth would result in a salary increase for MPs that would be inconsistent with the wider economic data and would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing this year.
“The Ipsa board has therefore decided that the salary for Members of Parliament will remain unchanged for the financial year 2021/22.”
