Row erupts over Stormont pay rise

A row has erupted in the Stormont assembly about a proposed pay rise, taking members wages to about £45,000 (€73,000) a year.

Bob McCartney of the UK Unionist Party says it’s a massive waste of money although Dermot Nesbitt of the UUP says it’s a reasonable increase for hard-working politicians.

The recommendation comes from the Senior Salaries Review Body and would mean an increase of £5,000 for each Assembly member.

The Assembly Commission will now consider the proposal, before deciding whether to put it to the full assembly for ratification.

The last pay rise of 2.9% in December 2000 brought salaries to £39,000 a year.

Bob McCartney, who's anti-Agreement, says the rises amount to bribing unionists to stick with the Good Friday Agreement.

He says, “the pigs will not take their snouts out of the trough while the food is being shovelled in”.

Dermott Nesbitt of the UUP says, however, “democracy is not cheap, that the proposed rises are far from unique”.

Sinn Fein, whose members receive just £15,000 (€24,280) with the rest going to party coffers, is opposing the rise.