MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anna Liatsou — A ten-percent pay increase given to members of the UK Parliament has triggered anger among working people who faced a one-percent pay freeze last week, leader of the UK’s New Communist Party Andy Brooks told Sputnik Friday.
On July 8, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne presented the new budget before parliament, which prescribed cuts to the welfare system, as well as measures to prevent pay increases of more than one percent a year for public sector workers, for four years starting from the 2016-2017 budgetary year.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) published a final public consultation in May, concluded that parliament members' pay will be increased unless "new and compelling evidence" comes forward, with the rise confirmed on Friday.
The pay increase will be back-dated to May 8, the day after the most recent UK General elections, and parliament members' monthly salaries now amount to some 6,940 pounds ($11,000).
The IPSA's move has faced fierce opposition from public sector trade unions as well as some ministers and parliament members. British Prime Minister David Cameron deemed the pay rise for parliamentarians unacceptable.
