WINCHESTER MP, Steve Brine, has declined to discuss whether he would accept the 11 per cent increase for MPs, which will see their pay up from £66,000 a year to £74,000 in 2015.

In a statement, he said: “With overwhelming support from the public, Parliament agreed in 2009 to set up an independent body so MPs would rightly no longer have a say in setting pay and pensions.

“There are no final recommendations from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and there will be a further statutory review after the election, when they will hopefully bring forward proposals that see the cost of politics go down and not up.”