MPs’ pension increase abandoned
By politics.co.uk staff
A Conservative U-turn forced Gordon Brown’s hand last night as the prime minister abandoned plans to increase taxpayers’ contributions to MPs’ pensions.
The House of Commons was due to vote later today on a motion which would have increased the percentage of an MP’s pensionable salary paid through the public purse from 26.8 per cent to 28.7 per cent.
This extra £800,000 prompted public outrage, however, despite the fact MPs’ contributions would also rise, from ten per cent of their salary to 11.9 per cent for the highest level of pension.
And the prime minister has now abandoned plans to hold the vote.
It has been reported that David Cameron’s decision to reverse the Conservatives’ support for the proposal, instead backing a Liberal Democrat amendment to freeze contribution levels, forced No 10’s hand.
“The purpose is to reduce the exposure to the taxpayer compared to what it otherwise might have been,” the prime minister’s spokesman explained yesterday, before the latest U-turn.
The Common’ votes on motions establishing a London regional committee and regional grand committees will go ahead as planned.
