IT WOULD be wrong of MPs to accept a pay-rise in such times of austerity, according to Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for the Cotswolds.

Under new plans by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), MPs will see their annual salary increase by £6,000 to £74,000 a year from 2015.

Mr Clifton-Brown told the Standard that he plans to stick by the comments he made in July about the proposed pay increase.

Speaking in the summer, he said: “It would be very difficult for Members of Parliament to be given a pay rise when public sector workers are being expected to accept pay freezes.

“I do not think MPs should be entitled to pay increased until such a time that other public sector workers are no longer having their pay frozen.”

Ipsa was set up by Parliament in the wake of the MP expenses scandal to independently oversee and regulate MP’s business costs, salary and expenses.

The plan, put forward by Ipsa, will include a one-off pay ray after which MP’s pay would be linked to their average earnings.

It also calls on MPs to produce an annual account of their work to help their constituents understand what it is MPs actually do.

Prime Minister David Cameron has also spoken against the increase, saying: “We need a process and an outcome in which the public can be confident and a one-off large pay increase at a time when you’ve got pay restraint across the public sector. I think that is not on.”

There will be a final review of the proposals after the next general election in 2015, if the plans are approved then the pay rise will be backdated to the date of the election.

Ipsa does not require Parliamentary approval to make the changes.