We're all facing hard times. This isn't a question of whether we should or shouldn't be on £66,000 a year. We're looking at severe austerity measures. I think this is a deliberately provocative move as far as Ipsa [the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which was set up to oversee and regulate MPs' expenses] is concerned, and provocative in its worst sense. It has raised the question of our salaries in order to rouse the ire of the British taxpayer. [Ipsa chairman] Sir Ian Kennedy came in believing he was the witchfinder general. His whole approach to his new job was, it seemed, to prove that every member of parliament is essentially corrupt. For MPs to give themselves a rise when everyone else's salaries are capped is ludicrous. For many politicians, being an MP can be financially difficult, but that's not the issue: they knew what it was going to be like. I've held jobs that have had higher and lower salaries. The money is irrelevant.
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MPs may be about to get a salary increase. Next week the parliamentary spending watchdog is expected to recommend a £10,000 rise, to £75,000. We ask them if they're worth it