NICOLA Sturgeon has taken aim at Boris Johnson after it was revealed the Prime Minister will be accepting a £2212 pay rise.
MPs’ salaries will increase by 2.7% as of April 1, from £81,932 to £84,144.
Downing Street confirmed Johnson will accept the pay rise, insisting there is “no facility” for the increase to be rejected.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman declined to say whether he would donate the increase to charity.
Sturgeon replied by confirming her ministers would, as they have done since 2008, donate increases to their pay to the public purse.
She tweeted: “Ministers in @scotgov have not taken a pay rise since 2008 and I can confirm we will not do so this year either.
“We donate increases back to the public purse for spending on services. Where there is a will there is a way.”
Ministers in @scotgov have not taken a pay rise since 2008 and I can confirm we will not do so this year either. We donate increases back to the public purse for spending on services. Where there is a will there is a way. https://t.co/4dunw9q8ru
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 14, 2022
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Salaries for MSPs and ministers in Scotland are set by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), which is made of a representative of each party and chaired by the presiding officer.
In December, the body announced a 3.4% increase in base salaries to £66,662 from next month.
Number 10 stressed that the salary increase was the result of a recommendation from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
The body, which announced it would be bumping up pay packets earlier this month, says the hike is in line with average increases in pay for public sector employees last year.
The rise comes as millions of people across the UK struggle with a cost-of-living crisis.
In January, Johnson urged IPSA to show "restraint" in setting MPs' pay.
IPSA pays MPs under the terms of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, as amended by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. The body explained in 2015: "MPs have no mechanism by which they can refuse to receive the recent salary increase and all MPs have been paid the full salary.
"Once the full salary has been paid, MPs may choose to donate an amount to charity. This is a personal matter for the MP."
Johnson does have the power to change the ministerial pay that members of the Government receive on top of their MPs’ salary, but while that has been frozen it will not be cut to counteract the increase given to all in the Commons.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the pay rise for MPs was “automatic, in effect” and “he is not able to turn down that pay rise which is independently judged by IPSA”.
Asked if he would cut his ministerial salary by £2200, the spokesman said: “The ministerial element of the Prime Minister’s salary has been frozen for some time now and will remain so.”
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