Labour MP Emily Thornberry votes herself 7% payrise, with no external audit

6.26.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 5th Jul 2008

Extra pay for London MPs, thanks to Labour's Emily Thornberry

Controversial Islington South & Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry is facing condemnation after voting herself an above inflation pay rise.

Ms Thornberry was one of the Labour MPs who voted through a £4,584 pay rise for inner London MPs, equivalent to a 7% pay rise. This contrasts with the 2.5% pay rise her Government is seeking to impose on public sector staff.

Ms Thornberry also voted to keep the MPs £24,000 second homes allowance - the so-called 'John Lewis list' - and voted against independent auditing of MPs expenses. The vote was described as 'disappointing' by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and 'damaging' by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

Liberal Democrat candidate for Islington South & Finsbury, Bridget Fox, who came just 484 votes behind Ms Thornberry at the last General Election, says,

"This is yet another error of judgement by Emily Thornberry. To vote herself such a generous pay rise at a time when many Islington families are struggling, shows Ms Thornberry is seriously out of touch. No wonder the Labour government is so unpopular.

"Labour MPs should follow the Liberal Democrats' lead and be totally open about their expenses."

Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, has committed to unilaterally introduce the recommendations of the Members Estimates Committee for independent spot checks of MPs expenses.

Despite Labour and Conservative MPs defeating the Committee's recommendations on Thursday 3 July, the Liberal Democrats will go ahead with implementing those that are relevant in order to further improve accountability.

Nick Clegg said:

"The Liberal Democrats will now implement as many of the recommendations as we can to tighten up the rules on MPs expenses - particularly those relating to spot checks of MPs expense claims.

"My Shadow Cabinet will shortly be publishing quarterly breakdowns of their expenses and I expect this to be the first of several measures to greatly improve how we account for ourselves.

"I hope that Gordon Brown and David Cameron will join me in implementing these measures so that together we can begin to restore public confidence in politicians after what has been a very damaging week."

NOTES

1) Evening Standard: "London MPs boost pay and expenses by sitting on hands: Next, they voted through a £4,584 pay rise for inner London MPs, an increase twice as generous as the amount that the SSRB thought justified and three times what the Government had proposed. That worked out at a pay rise for 22 inner London MPs of around seven per cent - far above the 2.5 per cent ceiling on most public sector staff."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23508307-details/London+MPs+boost+pay+and+expenses+by+sitting+on+hands/article.do

http://timesonline.typepad.com/politics/2008/07/is-your-mp-on-t.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031705/Named-shamed-MPs-voted-generous-expenses-Brown-expresses-disappointment.html

2) Before this pay rise, the basic backbench MP's salary is £61,820, plus inner London allowance of £2,812, plus allowances of c£20k for office expenses, staffing allowance of c90k, plus £10k for communications, plus unlimited use of postage-free House of Commons stationery. MPs also get travel expenses, car and bicycle mileage, and a generous final salary pension scheme. The second home allowance does not apply to inner London MPs.

3) The backbench MP's salary, even without allowances, is greater than the allowances package for any frontbench Islington councillor, including the Leader of the Council. (http://www.islington.gov.uk/democracy/documents/getdoc_ext.asp?DocID=59055) Councillors' allowances are the subject to independent audit by the District Auditor.

4) The average private sector pay rise is currently 3.8% with public sector pay rises currently averaging 2.75% (http://www.incomesdata.co.uk/pressrel/paysettlements1004.doc)

5) Unlike Labour and Conservatives, no Liberal Democrat MPs voted to give MPs extra allowances. Nick Clegg on MPs' expenses: http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/clegg-to-implement-mec-proposals-on-mps-expensesx.14634.html

6) Jeremy Corbyn MP voted with the Liberal Democrats.