THE MPs’ pay rise plan shows a political class ‘wildly out of touch’, said Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka yesterday.
Commenting on news that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) is set to announce an 11 per cent pay rise for MPs, he said: ‘That an 11 per cent pay rise is even being proposed, when living standards for everyone else are falling and poverty is rife, shows a political class wildly out of touch.
‘Any MP that thinks this increase would be anything other than a complete scandal should seriously consider their position.’
All Trades Unions Alliance secretary Dave Wiltshire commented: ‘If it’s OK for them it’s OK for us. All unions should put in for an 11% pay increase for all of their members, and take action to bring this government down.’
l Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) analysis of the Autumn Statement shows that the Chancellor wants to make austerity permanent, warned the TUC on Friday.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: ‘Today’s IFS analysis confirms that spending cuts will go on and on as George Osborne makes austerity permanent.
‘This has nothing to do with economics, but is all about a right-wing political project.
‘The Chancellor is using the fall-out from the global recession to permanently cut services and shrink the state back to where it was in 1948. This is not what voters want.’
Introducing a briefing on Friday, IFS director Paul Johnson said that ‘the predicted effect on the public finances of this year’s higher growth is very limited – only just over £3bn of additional tax revenue compared with Budget forecasts.
‘The rest of the improvement since last year comes from yet more predicted underspends and yet more year-on-year spending cuts.’
Johnson added: ‘Let’s not forget the scale of the cuts in spending still to come.
‘By the end of 2013-14 DELs (that’s Whitehall spending on public services) will have been cut by just over 8%.
‘Without further welfare cuts, or tax increases, plans for up to 2018-19 now imply cuts of more than 20% in total public service spending.’