MLAs at Stormont could be set to receive a £20,000 per year pay rise as part of a new independent panel being set up by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
New legislation submitted to the Assembly on Tuesday aims to replace the Independent Financial Review Panel, the current body which reviews politicians’ pay and rename it the Remuneration Board.
The new legislation, if passed, would require the new board to consider salaries of elected members in other areas, including the House of Commons, the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, and Dáil Éireann.
Stormont MLAs currently have annual salaries of £52,500, while counterparts in Scotland and Wales take home £72,197 and £72,057 respectively.
MLA pay and allowances was last reviewed in 2016.
MLAs clashed over the bill in the Assembly on Tuesday, with opposition parties People Before Profit and the TUV arguing the new board was a way for MLAs to rubber stamp a 37.5% pay rise for themselves.
“I make it clear that I do not believe that MLAs should receive a pay rise of one penny, never mind £19,000,” Timothy Gaston of the TUV said.
“I urge any independent body reviewing MLA pay to link it to our performance in the House; to consider the fact that we are Members of a legislative Assembly that seldom legislates; to consider that MLAs sit on scrutiny Committees that do not scrutinise; and to remember that MLAs, when asked whether they would like to have a say on laws that govern our economy, voted to hand power to those in a foreign Parliament.
“Is that the track record of an Assembly whose Members deserve a £19,000 pay hike? I think not, and I trust that the remuneration board will take those indisputable facts into account.”
Also opposing the motion, Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit said it was “a clear attempt to move the dial on a familiar conversation”
“The motion reminds us that MLA salaries and pensions are determined by an independent body, effectively laying the groundwork for an inevitable and substantial salary increase for MLAs under the guise of independence and objectivity,” Mr Carroll said.
DUP MLA Trevor Clarke rejected claims that a pay rise for members was inevitable as a result of setting up of the new body.
“There is a danger that we are calling into question the independence of an independent panel,” Mr Clarke said.
“Members have not decided anything. Indeed, Members agree with many of the points made about why we should not set our salaries. That was agreed many years ago, hence the need for an independent panel to set them.”
A spokesperson for the Assembly Commission said Stormont had passed a resolution in June 2020 setting out rules for salaries for MLAs and that a new body would provide for “independent oversight” of salaries to continue.
“The Bill will create a new independent Remuneration Board, and sets out the detail underpinning it, including that it will have independent membership, to take independent decisions on the appropriate level for the salaries and pensions of Members,” the spokesperson said.
“The Assembly Commission looks forward to engaging with Members on the detail of the Bill as it makes its way through the legislative scrutiny process.”
