Zarah Sultana: Coventry MP to donate pay rise to food bank and charities

An MP has pledged to give a planned pay rise to good causes saying the £2,200 increase was "wrong".

The basic salary of MPs will rise by 2.7% on 1 April to £84,144 a year - in the same week millions of workers will see their wages hit by a National Insurance increase.

Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana said people were facing a "Tory cost-of-living crisis".

"They should be getting a proper pay rise, not well-paid MPs," she added.

MPs' pay is set by an independent body.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer have both said the increase should not go ahead this year.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which sets salaries, says MPs' pay should be in line with other public sector workers.

On 1 April 2022, employees, employers and the self-employed will all pay 1.25p more in the pound for National Insurance.

The changes will see an employee on £20,000 a year pay an extra £89 in tax. Someone on £50,000 will pay £464 more.

The Coventry MP has said that the cost-of-living crisis was not happening "in spite of the government's political choices, but because of the government's political choices".

She said the rise would be split evenly between Coventry Foodbank and charities in the city "supporting refugees, to help Ukrainians and all those fleeing brutal war".

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