MALVERN’S MP has spoken out against proposed pay rises for politicians on national television.
Harriett Baldwin appeared on ITV programme Daybreak on Monday (December 9) ahead of an expected recommendation from IPSA to increase MPs’ salaries by 11 per cent from 2015.
She said: “I wrote into the consultation and I said that given the fact that public sector pay is being restrained in the way that it is that we should only have the same sort of increases as average public sector are having.
“If we could have had, as we were proposing in this Parliament, a reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600, then I would have said that there was a productivity gain and we should get a rise, but unfortunately the Liberal Democrats did block that and we are not going to have that.
“I have often called for a reduction in the cost of politics in Westminster, whether it’s cutting the number of MPs or reforming the House of Lords. IPSA was introduced to bring some transparency to the expenses system and it has successfully delivered on that aim.
“But IPSA is now costing the taxpayer £6 million a year, and it employs several staff who are paid more than MPs. It seems to me that it is time to thank IPSA for their reforms so far, and outsource the expense payment and publication to a private sector firm for a fraction of the cost.”
