MSPs told to hand over pay rise to good causes

The call comes as opposition leaders at the Scottish Parliament are to refuse the 1.5 per cent rise which MSPs will receive next month.

Labour's Iain Gray, Tory Annabel Goldie and Liberal Democrat Tavish Scott all said they would forego the increase, which has already been declined by First Minister Alex Salmond.

Today independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald suggested all Holyrood politicians could put their 850 pay rise into a pool for some special initiative.

She said: "1.5 per cent is not a lot, but 1.5 per cent of a wage of nearly 60,000 would represent a considerable relief to a lot of people just now who are on 12,000 or 18,000 and are worried about their jobs.

"It's heartening to see frontbenchers refusing the increase.

"We could all put our 1.5 per cent into a pool and decide it's going to some agreed project."

MSPs automatically get the same percentage increase as awarded to their Westminster counterparts. That means from 1 April, MPs' pay will rise from 64,776 to 65,737.

MSPs' pay is fixed at 87.5 per cent of the salary, so their pay will rise from 56,671 to 57,520.

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg and some other senior UK politicians announced they would not be taking their increase. And today the leaders of the three main Scottish opposition parties followed suit.

Mr Gray said: "I agree with the Prime Minister there is a need to strengthen public confidence in the political system and one way of doing this is for party leaders to provide an example by taking a pay freeze."

A Lib Dem spokeswoman said: "Tavish Scott has decided as party leader he is not going to take the pay rise."

A Conservative spokesman confirmed Annabel Goldie would not take the increase either.

The 1.5 per cent rise also applies to ministerial salaries, but Mr Salmond and all his ministerial colleagues refused last year's rise and are refusing the latest increase.

However, Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson – who is paid the same as a Cabinet Secretary – will take the rise, taking his total salary over the 100,000 mark.

Dave Moxham, deputy general secretary of the STUC, said: "If politicians go ahead and take a pay rise while denying a similar increase to public sector workers, that would be major hypocrisy."

Lynn Henderson, Scottish secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, which represents civil servants, added: "Low-paid public sector workers are being asked to take a pay freeze or even a pay cut while MPs and MSPs are benefiting from an increase, which is really unfair."