MSPs are in line for a bumper pay rise of more than £5,000 over three years – thanks to their Westminster colleagues.
House of Commons MPs are seeking a series of above-inflation pay rises which will boost their salaries by almost 10 per cent over the next three years.
The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) is understood to be recommending an increase in MPs' pa
y from the current £60,675 to about £66,500 in 2011.
Thanks to MSPs' personal "Barnett Formula", that increase will feed through to Holyrood representatives, boosting their salaries from £53,090 now to £58,188 in three years' time.
The only obstacle is Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, who is determined to oppose the pay increase at a time when public servants are being told to accept below-inflation rises of less than 2 per cent annually.
However, many MPs are determined to vote the increase through when it comes before the Commons early next year.
The SSRB recommendation will go to Mr Brown early next year and will be followed by a Westminster vote. An alliance of senior Labour and Tory backbenchers is determined to vote it through, despite the opposition of Mr Brown and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor.
The SSRB bases MPs' pay on that of senior civil servants. It was originally suggested that MPs should lose the right to vote on their own salaries and leave the issue entirely up to the SSRB but the idea was dropped.
In 2002, MSPs agreed to lose the right to vote on their own pay and tied their salaries to 87.5 per cent of a Westminster MP's pay.
This means that any increase in pay for Commons members automatically feeds through to MSPs in the same way that increases in main English department spending are reflected in the Westminster block grant to the Scottish Government under the Barnett Formula.
A Downing Street spokesman said last night: "The Prime Minister feels there should be pay discipline across the public sector, and that includes MPs.
"He will be in the Commons for the debate and make his views known."
Westminster sources said that, privately, Mr Brown and Mr Darling are seething over the issue, and Mr Brown is understood to have told some Labour MPs that they are being selfish.
One Labour back-bencher, who asked not to be named, said: "Our pay has fallen further behind other similar groups and we are not prepared to put up with it any longer. We earn less than some Polish plumbers, and that can't be right."
The SSRB, which has been conducting a three-yearly study of MPs' pay and allowances on behalf of the government, was last night unavailable for comment.
The move comes as Mr Brown and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, face criticism from police in England and Wales for effectively reducing their pay rise to below 2 per cent by refusing the backdate it to 1 September. The move has fuelled talk of industrial action by police officers.
Jan Berry, who chairs the Police Federation in England and Wales, said: "My main argument is with Gordon Brown, but MPs need to take into account what other groups are getting. For MPs, explaining to police officers why they need such a large pay rise will be very difficult."
THE RATE FOR THE JOBAverage UK salary: £23,774IT project manager: £40,864
Software engineer: £28,825
Higher education lecturer: £42,000
Police superintendents: £56,274–£65,565
Police chief constables: £114,735–£163,908
Junior doctors: £20,000–£25,000
General practitioners: £102,000
Head teachers: £34,938–£74,841
Whitehall permanent secretaries : £139,740–£273,000
Newly qualified nurses: £19,600
Council chief executives: £100,000 plus
The full article contains 636 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
