Stormont MLAs could receive a 27% pay rise under a proposal from a new independent pay body. The Independent Remuneration Board has made a determination to increase annual salaries for the politicians from £53,000 to £67,200 – a bump of 26.8%. The board has also introduced new measures to provide for a reduction in MLA salaries should the institutions collapse again.
Alan Lowry, the chairperson of the new IRB said the decision to uplift salaries was part of a process to introduce a level of pay “which fairly reflects the complexity and importance of their work”. He said that MLAs salaries had only increased by 8% since 2016, in comparison with 25% at Westminster.
Our MLAs are in a tricky position. The view of most of the public will be that the Assembly is utterly useless, and none of them deserves a pay rise. On the other hand, being a politician is a difficult job, and you have to attract people to the role. Is it their fault they are stuck in a useless system? To which the answer is, well, the big two parties can choose to change the system and work better together for all our sakes, but they don’t.
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
Discover more from Slugger O'Toole
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
