Pay rises, peerages and that end-of-term feeling

IPSA chair Sir Ian Kennedy says MPs should get a 10% pay rise

One of Wales's more outspoken MPs has just told me he doesn't have a view on one of today's big issues.

You'll be less surprised to learn that the issue is MPs' pay, with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority having signed off a 10% rise, taking a backbench MP's salary to £74,000 (backdated to May 8). Changes to MPs' expenses and pension arrangements mean there will be no extra cost to the taxpayer but that's unlikely to encourage MPs to venture in front of the cameras.

Conservative former Welsh Secretary David Jones said it was "incoherent" for MPs to complain about a pay rise set by an independent body they had set up.

He said: "The issue of our pay has been taken out of our hands. I actually approve of that. Our expenses have gone down considerably but there is an increase in salary at no additional cost to the public purse."

Welsh Lib Dem MP Mark Williams says that he will give any pay rise to local charities: "At a time of pay freezes and pay restraint, particularly in the public sector, a £7,000 increase for MPs is inappropriate and crass hypocrisy, and the Lib Dem submission to the IPSA consultation on this issue said as such.

"This has been reinforced by the Budget which limited public sector pay to 1% increases over the next few years."

'End-of-term'

Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader Jonathan Edwards said he supported the principle of pay being decided by an independent panel.

"I welcome the decision that in future MPs' pay will be linked to average increases in the public sector. This is a positive step forward.

"The remuneration package announced by IPSA is cost-neutral with cuts to pension entitlements and other aspects already implemented. My position has always been to increase charitable donations if there is an increase in the total remuneration package."

Monmouth Tory MP David Davies said: "I don't mind being unpopular for things I've done. But I do mind being unpopular for things over which I've got no control and are not to my benefit."

In other Westminster news, Brecon and Radnorshire MP Chris Davies has become the last of the 11 new Welsh MPs to deliver his maiden speech, the row over English vote for English laws goes on. and the Welsh government has come under fire from the leader of the House of Commons.

Chris Grayling was responding to a question from Gower Conservative MP Byron Davies about the regeneration investment fund for Wales "and the underselling of a large amount of publicly owned property".

Mr Grayling told him: "You give me an example that I missed out when I talked about the chaos in the Labour party. It is chaotic in opposition, chaotic in government, letting down Wales and failing to deliver the services and environment that Wales needs. It would be great to see Wales have a Conservative government, not the current Labour administration who have let it down year after year."

There is an end-of-term feel here. The dissolution honours list is overdue, with several Welsh names tipped for peerages, including Jonathan Evans, Peter Hain and Paul Murphy, despite murmurings about Labour's choice of new peers.

MPs are currently holding a debate on the "summer adjournment". The Commons rises for its summer recess next Tuesday. Before readers start noticing a dip in my productivity, I should warn that blogging will be a little lighter than usual in the next few weeks as I take some leave and do the occasional shift in Cardiff presenting Good Evening Wales.