Members of the House of Commons salary and expenses

On 21 March 2011 the House of Commons agreed to the motion that means that the 650 MPs will forgo a recommended 1 per cent pay rise effective from 1 April 2011. The proposed pay rise resulted from a determination of the Senior Salaries Review Board released on 19 January 2011. The motion makes provision for MPs' salary and those of chairs of select and general committees to be frozen for two years at the salary level on 31 March 2011, that is at £65,738. The motion passed without a vote. Most Members of the House of Lords do not receive a salary but may be entitled to financial support arising out of their parliamentary duties.

However it has been reported that MPs were unhappy at having to vote on their own pay. It is argued that the measures put in place following the expenses scandal of 2009 meant that such a decision would be made outside the parliament. It also comes at a time when the government has introduced stringent measures to cut the deficit including a pay freeze for the public sector.

Members of Parliament salary and entitlements

On 24 March the Special Minister of State, Hon Gary Gray, introduced the Remuneration and other legislation amendment bill 2011. This bill provides, among other matters, for the Remuneration Tribunal to determine MP’s base salary, currently $136 640, and ends the Parliament’s ability to disallow the remuneration determinations, that is senators’ and members’ pay increases. The Bill also requires the Tribunal, an independent statutory authority, to publish its reasons for the determination.

Since 1990 the Remuneration Tribunal has only had an advisory power with regard to the annual allowance (or base salary). After the relevant determinations are tabled, Parliament may resolve to disapprove (disallow) the determinations. In 1974 Parliament disallowed the Tribunal’s determination increasing the annual allowance to $20 000 per annum. In the thirty years since then Parliament has also modified determinations, postponed increases and enacted reduced allowances previously determined by the Tribunal. The most recent example of wage restraint was the pay freeze that occurred from 1 July 2008.