The Scottish Parliament

'The control freak Prime Minister simply doesn't trust the people. It is patronising and sinister, this tendency to demand control over everything. His message is that people are only right when they agree with new Labour.'
Alex Salmond, November 1998.

MSP's mark-up

By Denis Campbell and Lucy Patton in the Herald

SCOTLAND'S new political rulers will welcome the 4.3% pay rise awarded to MPs yesterday, as it should mean they get more money too.

It will probably result in all 129 members of the Scottish Parliament receiving a basic salary of about Ł40,000, still around Ł6000 less than Westminster MPs.

The Senior Salaries Review Board has suggested that MSPs should get between 80%-90% of MPs' pay. Although Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar has not made a final decision, that will almost certainly remain the case.

Mr Dewar also could decide not to add the extra 4.3% to MSPs' pay. Officially, he again has still not decided what to do. Political reality, though, dictates it will be.

MSPs would then receive a set percentage of the Ł47,008 which MPs will receive after their two-stage pay hike. They will get 2.8% of the 4.3% increase on April 1 and the other 1.5% on September 1. That will see the standard MP's salary rise from Ł45,066 to Ł47,008.

The exact amount of MSPs' pay will be finalised soon and set in stone in the form of an order before the House of Commons, probably later this month.

Scottish Office sources predict early resolution of the issue so that potential MSPs will know what their pay will be before they formally enter the fray of the Holyrood campaign.

The First Minister, Deputy First Minister, and other Ministers in the new Scottish Executive (government) at Holyrood will get more than ordinary MSPs. 2 feb

Blair braced for MSP pay row

By Severin Carrell in the Scotsman

TONY Blair faces a row with the Scottish parliament over the pay rates for MSPs after deciding that Holyrood politicians should be paid less than Westminster MPs.

It is understood that the Prime Minister has decided to accept a recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body to pay MSPs a basic salary of £40,000 a year, about £5,000 less than MPs in London.

An announcement about the pay of all MPs, MSPs and the wages for Wales and Irish assembly members was due to have been made by Downing Street today, but it is thought it has been delayed by the war in Yugoslavia.

Senior Government sources confirmed to The Scotsman last night that the £40,000 basic pay rate has been under consideration by Downing Street for some weeks, and a statement will be made within days.

The announcement will not, however, set the expenses rates, allowances or pay for Holyrood ministers or senior Parliamentary officials like the Presiding Officer. That decision will probably be left for the Scottish parliament to decide itself.

But it is understood that Scottish Office ministers are bracing themselves for criticism from opposition parties, particularly from the Scottish National Party, and possibly even Labour MSPs because it is lower than the pay for Westminster MPs.

Welsh politicians have already reacted angrily after it emerged that the SSRB has recommended that members of the Welsh assembly should be paid £33,000 a year, based on their lower responsibilities and workload compared with Westminster MPs.

The Government is preparing to use the same arguments with MSP salaries. One source said: "I think we’ve said before that people should worry about getting themselves elected first, before they get worried about other things like this.

"I can imagine our opponents getting exercised about this, but they are different jobs and if you think about it, there will be different hours and workloads involved. There are no late night sittings, and there isn’t as much travelling involved either."

But he added that this decision could be changed by the Scottish parliament after it is formed, although the Labour leadership is likely to resist the move because it will mean cutting spending elsewhere. The object, one sources said, of deciding a figure in advance was to set a pay rate for MSPs.

Scottish union leaders set themselves on a collision course with the Government when they published a wish-list for the Scottish parliament, many of which are at odds with Labour’s policies. The "shopping basket" of policies – including a call to return business rates to council control – will be sent by the Scottish Trades Union Congress to all prospective candidates.

However, the most controversial policy – whether to call for the parliament to make use of its tax raising powers before 2003 – will be decided at the STUC’s annual conference in Glasgow next month. 25 th March 1999

Anger at bizarre Holyrood pay scales First Minister would get less than Scottish Secretary

By Jenny Percival in the Scotsman

SCOTLAND’S First Minister could be paid less than the Scottish Secretary, who will have far fewer responsibilities after devolution, under pay scales being considered by the Government.

Politicians on all sides agreed that it would be a "bizarre anomaly" if the First Minister was to receive £10,000 a year less than the Scottish Secretary, virtually all of whose duties will pass to Holyrood.

They have called on the Government to reject the proposal and ensure that ministers and MSPs in the Scottish parliament received the same level of pay as their Westminster counterparts.

From Thursday, when MPs receive their latest pay award, Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, will be entitled to £111,315 a year. This includes his MP’s pay of £47,008 and £64,307 as a Cabinet minister.

Cabinet ministers currently claim only £45,201 of the £61,650 a year ministerial salary they are entitled to under a two-year pay freeze ordered by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, but they have not yet decided whether to stick to this policy for a further year.

Under plans being considered by the Government, Mr Dewar and other MPs elected to the Scottish parliament would be entitled to an allowance of £14,000 – about a third of their MSP’s salary – in addition to their MP’s salary.

However, when Mr Dewar stands down as a Westminster MP he would lose this perk and would instead receive an MSP’s salary of about £40,000 a year – £7,000 less than MPs. Should he become First Minister, he would receive a total of about £100,000 a year, less than he gets at the moment.

The independent Senior Salaries Review Body has made recommendations on MSP and Scottish ministers’ pay and the Government is due to make an announcement in the next few weeks.

Privately, politicians of all parties are angry that members of the Scottish parliament will be paid less than their Westminster counterparts, but most are reluctant to speak out and recognise that it would be difficult for them to overridethe Government’s recommendations and vote themselves a pay rise when the parliament is up and running.

A Scottish National Party spokesman, George Reid, a former MP, described the Government’s proposals for different rates of pay as "illogical". He has already had informal talks with Labour and the Liberal Democrats about taking decisions on pay out of the political arena and putting them in the hands of an independent body.

"A large part of the workload of Scottish MPs will pass to MSPs when the parliament is set up and yet they are to be paid more than MSPs," he said. "If the Government has accepted that, they will follow it through the ranks and ministers in Scotland will also receive proportionately less. It’s a messy situation which should be depoliticised and tied to civil service grades or the equivalent in other professions so that the parliament never has to vote for its own pay rates," Mr Reid said.

Jim Wallace, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and a Holyrood candidate, said it would be ridiculous if the First Minister was to be paid less than the Scottish Secretary. He said: "Someone has yet to give me a reasonable job description for what the Scottish Secretary will do after 1 July. The responsibilities of the First Minister will be much greater and more onerous than those of the Scottish Secretary and this should be recognised in the salary."

He said ministers in the Scottish parliament should receive the same salary as junior ministers in Whitehall departments such as health or education.

David McLetchie, the Scottish Tory leader, said the First Minister should be paid the same as a member of the Westminster Cabinet. He said: "It would be bizarre to pay the Scottish Secretary more than the First Minister. It’s difficult to see what the Scottish Secretary will do after devolution and how long the job will exist in its present form. I would prefer to see parity between the pay of MPs and MSPs and throughout the system."

From 1 April, Tony Blair will be entitled to draw a salary of £107,179 as Prime Minister in addition to his MP’s pay of £47,008.

Ministers of state at Westminster will receive £80,367 from 1 April, but ministers in the Scottish executive are expected to receive just over £70,000.

The Senior Salaries Review Board is also expected to recommend that ministers in the House of Lords be paid at least £60,000 a year – an increase of almost £7,000 or 13 per cent on their current salary of £53,264.

27 th March 1999

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