MPs accused of ‘feathering own nests’ over pension contributions

A CROSS-PARTY group of MPs has been criticised for “feathering their own nests” by fighting a move to guarantee their pension contributions increase in line with the rest of the public sector.

The Commons is due to debate a motion today that would transfer responsibility for pensions to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa).

However, senior Conservativess and Labour MPs have taken issue with a section of the text – tabled by Leader of the House Sir George Young – specifying that their contributions should rise in the same way as other workers.

An amendment put down by Conservative backbencher Christopher Chope and three others aims to delete a request for Ipsa “to increase contribution rates for Hon Members from 1 April, 2012, in line with changes in pension contribution rates for other public service schemes”.

Mr Chope said the government was being “inconsistent” by giving Ipsa control and then telling it what to do.

“Myself and a lot of other people think the government should give an explanation as to why they are giving discretion to Ipsa with one hand, and then taking it away with the other,” he said. He stressed he personally had “no big deal” about contributions rising,.

“I probably will not be very popular because the government does not like people drawing attention to its inconsistency,” he added.