British MPs to get major pay hike in 2015

British lawmakers should get a major 10 per cent rise in their salary next year to be paid "fairly", the body overseeing their salaries and expenses has said, despite leaders arguing against such an increase.
Marcial Boo, chief executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), said MPs did an important job and should not be paid a "miserly amount".
Their pay will go up from 67,000 pounds to 74,000 pounds under IPSA'S plan.
The country's Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour party leaders have argued it would be wrong when public sector pay rises were capped at 1 per cent.

But in his first interview since taking on the job, Boo told the Sunday Telegraph that a review of evidence had shown that economic forecasts were improving while MPs' salaries had "fallen behind" others working in comparable public sector roles.
The proposed 74,000 pounds figure was now seen by some as being "at the low end", he claimed, adding that pay needed to be fair to attract good candidates.

"They are there to represent us all -- to form laws, to send young people to war," he told the newspaper.
"It is not an easy thing to do. We want to have good people doing the job and they need to be paid fairly. Now, that's not paid in excess but it's not being paid a miserly amount either," he added.

Reforms brought in after the 2009 expenses scandal mean MPs are no longer in charge of setting their pay.
The watchdog has indicated it will conduct one further review of the pay rise after the election -- as it is legally obliged to do.
But a spokesperson said the authority was likely to "crack on" with the planned pay rise after the 2015 general election.
The one-off increase is part of a package that will see MPs pay more into their pensions, as well as the end of resettlement payments.
IPSA says that overall the reforms will not cost taxpayers any more than the present scheme.