AN independent body is to recommend a pay hike of £7,000 pa, which is equivalent to a rise of nine per cent, for our MPs. Cunningly, they won’t receive it until after next year’s General Election.

So much for hardworking people who have had to endure a pay restraint with just one per cent increases in recent years. “We’re all in it together,” as someone once said.

PHILIP G. HAWKINS, Southampton.