Commons vote due on big MP pay rise

MPs are deciding whether to defy Prime Minister Gordon Brown and award themselves an inflation-busting 4.4% pay rise. Ministerial salary increases have already been scrapped in a bid to set a pay restraint example amid tight deals for public sector workers. Now the Commons must choose whether to ignore an independent review that said they deserved a big pay hike and accept the Government's deal instead, worth about 2.2%. MPs will also vote on a shake-up of their controversial allowances, for millions more pounds to be spent on their offices and for their home addresses to be kept secret. Sir John Baker's review of Westminster pay had recommended that MPs receive three years of £650 "catch-up" payments and a pay rise in line with recent average public sector earnings. But the Government wants pay linked to the mid-point of a... [read full story]