HOLYROOD authorities are poised to sever the link between the salaries of MSPs and MPs after a proposed 11% increase in pay at Westminster prompted widespread condemnation.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) will unveil its final Westminster pay and expenses package this week but is pressing ahead with plans to boost salaries by £7600 to £74,000 after the 2015 General Election.
It is understood Holyrood's cross-party housekeeping committee, the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB), is looking at how to break the link laid down in the Scotland Act 1998. It set the salary of an MSP, currently £58,097, at 87.5% of that of an MP.
It is not clear if Holyrood would have to change the act to break this link or if it could be achieved by a legislative consent motion at Westminster.
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: "It would be wrong to assume any pay rise will automatically apply at Holyrood. The SPCB is aware of the IPSA consultation and has considered the most appropriate arrangements for determining MSPs' pay. The SPCB will be announcing its proposals shortly."
Set up to take decisions on remuneration out of the hands of MPs after the expenses scandal, IPSA is expected to boost basic salaries to £74,000 from 2015, an increase of more than 11%.
IPSA is expected to try to temper criticism by announcing a tough squeeze on MPs' pensions and other conditions such as pay-offs when they leave office.
Leading political figures condemned the planned increase, with First Minister Alex Salmond describing it as "ludicrous" and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander calling it "wholly inappropriate". Labour's Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg pledged to shun the extra cash. David Cameron stopped short of that, and is under pressure from some Tory MPs to back the rise.
Research by IPSA found two-thirds of MPs feel they are underpaid and watchdog chairman Sir Ian Kennedy has insisted politicians' salaries must "catch up" after years of having pay and conditions suppressed.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article