Parliamentary Salaries

That the Parliament notes that the salaries of MSPs, recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body to be 87.5% of those paid to MPs, may be raised as a consequence of an increase in MP salaries in recompense for the repayment of unreasonable expenses requested by Thomas Legg; believes that this is not an objective method of evaluating parliamentary salaries, which should lie with an independent salaries review body; resolves to refuse any consequential increase in MSP salaries, which it believes to be engineered in the interests of Westminster parties to avoid the embarrassment of MPs refusing to comply with Thomas Legg’s requests, and further resolves to break the perceived link with Westminster salaries, to have its members’ salaries evaluated by the Senior Salaries Review Board, or similar independent body, and to accept such an independently-calculated salary consistent with the Parliament’s high standards of transparency and probity.