Loadsamoney MSPs to receive more than £2,000 pay rise this year amid attendance secrecy scandal

SECRET SCOTLAND: Holyrood politicians to receive £2000 pay boost despite refusing to reveal how often they turn up for work …

The Scottish Parliament needs urgent reform, says one Tory MSP — **MSPs ‘hard at work’ in the Scottish Parliament Chamber at Holyrood.**

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) confirmed the rise on Tuesday, meaning that the basic salary for parliamentarians will now be £74,506.

It’s not so long since that used to be the first prize on the weekend football pools. Eight draws on your coupon won you £75,000.

The SPCB is formed of five MSPs and their spokesperson said that the hike was in line with inflation under the Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) index.

Secretive Holyrood block attempts to find out how often MSPs attend work amid Nicola Sturgeon ‘part-time’ claim

The £2,311 pay rise will apply from April 1 and is the fourth straight year of such increases, with wages going up by 6.7% last year, 1.5% the year before and 3.4% in 2022-23. Until last year, MSPs’ salaries were based on the Office for National Statistics annual survey of hours and earnings (ASHE).

But this was changed by the SPCB who insisted it had become “misaligned” with other measures in recent years. It highlighted that the ASHE mean was recently reported at 6.7%, “further evidencing the misalignment”. Last month, the UK inflation rate recorded at 2.6%. The pay rise is automatically applied by the SPCB.

Scottish Government Ministers – all SNP at present – are entitled to extra cash on top of the base rate but since April 2009 have declined to accept their full entitlement so instead of £99,516, they receive £81,449. Talks have been held by the SNP about restoring the top level of pay once again due to inflation worries.

It appears to have been ignored that “inflation worries” affect workers across the board, and that no similar rises have been announced for them without negotiation with their employers.

News of the MSP pay rise comes following a scandal which saw Holyrood officials create new rules to block attempts to find out how many times a parliamentarian comes into work at the parliament.

People are no longer allowed to make freedom of information requests for “swipe data” which shows how many time they swipe into work.

Holyrood have insisted that the reason for this is because it may risk the safety of MSPs, but others claim that because they are paid out of the public purse, Scots have a right to know how often they show up for work.

MSPs are understood to have lobbied for this change, with Nicola Sturgeon complaining because her data was published before the change.