Double our pay to £130k says senior Tory MP

Sir Patrick Cormack sparked outrage by proposing the huge increase to replace the allowances system which led to the expenses scandal.

One Lib-Dem MP accused him of "living on Planet Zog" while a minister said his remarks proved how "out of touch" many Tory MPs were.

Within hours of the Standard revealing Sir Patrick's plan, the Tory leader acted to stop his party being damaged by a fresh storm over MPs' pay.

A Tory party spokesman said: "These are the views of an individual Conservative MP — not the Conservative Party. David Cameron has repeatedly made it clear that we need to reduce the overall cost of politics and that MPs should no longer vote on their pay."

Sir Patrick's proposed rise from the current salary of £64,766 comes as Britain reels from the recession, dole queues grow and millions of workers are having to accept pay cuts or freezes. Sir Patrick, who failed in his bid to become Commons Speaker this summer, accepts that his proposal would almost certainly run into a wall of opposition but he believes it is the "best, fairest and cleanest solution" to the expenses scandal.

Sir Patrick, 70, outlined his plan in evidence to the committee on standards in public life which is conducting an inquiry into MPs' pay and expenses.

"I have reluctantly become convinced, over the last few weeks, that the most effective way of restoring public confidence in Parliament is for there to be a significant increase in Members' salaries and an abolition of all allowances, save the allowance to pay for staff and a constituency office," he said in his submission dated 29  May.

"In order to ensure that Members could perform their parliamentary and constituency duties effectively, and have, where necessary, a second home, the salary of Members would have to be doubled at least ... "

The Staffordshire South MP told the Standard: "I accept that the economic conditions of the times and implications for things like pensions are such that it would be difficult to persuade the great British public that this was the best way forward."

Other MPs support a significant salary increase, including Conservative Douglas Hogg whose expenses claims famously included a bill for "moat cleaning" at his country home.

"A parliamentary salary does not support the lifestyle to which most professional and business classes aspire," the barrister told the standards committee. "In order not to deter the professional and business classes from coming into the Commons, MPs should be paid a salary of around £100,000 together with appropriate expenses."

Other MPs were appalled by Sir Patrick's suggestion. Overseas aid minister Mike Foster said: "David Cameron tries to talk tough on expenses for the cameras while behind the scenes his out of touch MPs are secretly trying to double their salaries.

"In these difficult economic times the public are not going to take kindly to MPs awarding themselves a huge pay rise."

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey said of Sir Patrick: "He must be living on Planet Zog to think that doubling MPs' salary would restore public faith in Parliament.

"While many people are struggling to make ends meet, it's outrageous and offensive for such a senior Conservative to propose doubling MPs' pay."

Tory officials stressed that a number of Labour MPs including Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth have also suggested their salary should be increased.

Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, has proposed that all expenses should be scrapped and that the salary should rise to £80,000 for inner London MPs and £95,000 for those with constituencies outside this area.