Friday, July 17, 2015

Llan MP will give her pay rise to charity

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones says she will be donating her latest pay rise to charity.

Her pledge not to pocket the extra 10 per cent comes after the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced that MPs' salaries will rise from £67,060 to £74,000.

The pay increase has been approved despite Downing Street and a succession of MPs saying it was "not appropriate".

IPSA chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said that MPs' pay had been a "toxic" issue "which had been ducked for decades".

He said the pay rise would not cost any money because it was being combined with cuts to expenses, pension and severance payments for MPs.

But Ms Jones (pictured left) said: "I have never supported the idea of a substantial pay rise for MPs and during the public consultation, I urged my constituents to write in against.

"Although I welcome the fact that it is now an outside body and not MPs that decides on MPs' pay, I remain unchanged in my views.  I also continue to hold the belief that MPs should not have second jobs.

"I know some people will say that there are many jobs - including senior public sector jobs in our area - where the pay is far greater than for MPs. Other people will point out that some of the MPs pay-rise is in fact the result of changes in pension and other arrangements.

"That's all true, but when so many people in the public and private sectors have only low or sometimes no annual rises and our local Councils in Wrexham and Denbighshire don't even pay everyone the Living Wage, I think there are real issues about the proposed rise.

"For that reason, I will be donating any rise in the remuneration I get to local charities."

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