Parliamentary staffers have reacted with fury to the news that MPs are set to get a pay rise almost double the size of their hardworking staff. IPSA revealed today that MPs would be getting a 2.7% pay rise this year, while staff budgets would only be going up by 1.5%. That’s only an uplift on the total staff budget, not even a payrise on individual salaries…

Staffer WhatsApp groups have been buzzing with angry messages with some angry aides even joking about going on strike. One staffer wrote “So pissed off! Have sent an angry email to IPSA…won’t do any good, but 🤬🤬🤬”, another said “I’m on page 3 and it’s already making me furious. No parity increase so as to avoid setting a precedent. Shameful.” Another irate aide memorably described it as “A kick in the chuddies for all the work we’ve been doing”…

IPSA were even warned that an outcry would happen would happen last month, with members of the Speaker’s Committee telling the IPSA Chair and Chief Executive that:

“on the pure visuals of saying that MPs are getting this much and their staff that much… we are kind of giving [the press] a target to go after… I realise where we are on this and the logic behind it, but we have to come up with something that stops it looking quite so bad”.

IPSA’s Chair responded that they had “looked at what was affordable” but did not want to “set a precedent by creating parity”. If an increase for staff is so unaffordable then why are MPs getting almost twice as much?