SOUTH SOMERSET'S MP has pledged his support for the process of deciding MPs pay after it was announced that their pay would go up by 1.4 per cent.

This is well above the one per cent cap imposed on public sector workers.

The rise will see MPs wages go from £74,962 to £76,011 per year and is due to take effect in April 2017.

It follows another cap-busting increase of 1.3 per cent earlier this year.

MP Marcus Fysh said: "I support the independent process of deciding these matters and it is right that it should be respected.

"All matters related to funding of MPs' allowances and expenses in discharge of their duties as MPs are now decided independently and transparently by the independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

"Information on the detail and consultations on the processes they use for this can be found on their web site at www.theipsa.org.uk."

The pay increase comes two years after a massive 10 per cent hike from £67,000 to £74,000 in 2015, recommended by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa).

The announcement is likely to anger public sector workers like nurses, police and teachers, whose rises have been limited to a maximum 1 per cent for four years, following earlier freezes.

Under a system designed to take the issue out of political control, MPs' salaries rise in line with the Office for National Statistics' calculation of average overall increases in the public sector. The increase is automatic and not subject to approval in Parliament.

Ipsa confirmed that the ONS had issued a preliminary estimate of this year's figure of 1.4 per cent.

However, this may change when the statistic is finalised nearer the date of the pay-rise.

The figure is higher than the 1 per cent cap because it is calculated on the basis of all payments on public sector payslips, including items like bonuses and promotion-related rises.