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Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

Is there not a concern that irrespective of whether we use a basket or some level of comparability, particularly one that involves public sector pay, where, directly or indirectly, we have all had an influence, the media will still raise their hue and cry whenever a figure is announced? Even if one of those independent mechanisms were properly implemented and all the concerns raised in this debate were addressed, the issue would still become a media hue and cry. Therefore, it is for us, as Members of Parliament, simply to bite the bullet and to drive forward the right sort of pay package, given that we believe in the idea of a sovereign Parliament. I have a lot of sympathy with everything that the right hon. Gentleman is saying, but I fear that we would be back to square one the moment such a mechanism comes into play.