An independent body (the Senior Salaries Review Board) used to make recommendations about MPs pay and expenses. MPs would then vote on whether to accept the recommended figures, or whether to cut them down or increase them.
There was a great deal of public anger about the fact that MPs had the final say over their own salaries and expenses. It was therefore decided that MPs should no longer any right whatsoever to take decisions over their pay and allowances. The power was handed over to another organisation. IPSA and MPs have been legally prevented from influencing IPSA in any way.
It is IPSA, not MPs who want to give MPs a pay rise and they also want to reduce the pension redundancy package and other expenses. Most MPs would be slightly better off under the new proposals (although nothing like the 11% being reported) and some MPs would be significantly worse off. The overall cost to the taxpayer would be the same.
IPSA do not answer to MPs and can impose whatever they salary package they want. The only way to prevent this would be for MPs to vote to scrap IPSA and revert to a system where we take the final decision ourselves.I would be quite happy to do this if I felt there was public support for doing so. However there are two important matters I would like everyone to be aware of:
The first is that if pay and expenses are ultimately decided by MPs and not by an independent body then we would be back to the system which was in place before 2010 and which gave rise to so much criticism, because we were deciding our own pay pension and expenses.
The second is that at present all of the publicity around the new package is focused on the pay rise, with very little on the pension redundancy and expense cuts. If we scrap IPSA and its salary package I am concerned that MPs will be accused of acting out of self-interest to scrap the body which was going to cut MPs pensions.
If people are happy to give MPs back the power to set their own pay then I would be happy to take responsibility for decisions which we then make. At present I simply do not have any power over what is being decided.