Plans to give MPs a pay rise of more than £3,000 have been scrapped, the parliamentary pay watchdog has said.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said hiking MP pay next year would be "inconsistent" with the financial hardship faced by many workers during the pandemic.
The watchdog said in October that MPs could be entitled to a 4.1% rise in April, taking their salaries to £85,291 - despite wage freezes for millions of public sector workers.
But the comments provoked a major backlash, with even Boris Johnson's spokesman saying the Prime Minister was against the hike.
Confirming the u-turn, Ipsa interim chair Richard Lloyd wrote to MPs: "The unprecedented impact of the Covid pandemic has had an unexpected, but different, effect on public and private sector earnings.
"It is clear that applying the forthcoming official statistic for public-sector earnings growth would result in a salary increase for MPs that would be inconsistent with the wider economic data and would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing this year.
"The Ipsa board has therefore decided that the salary for Members of Parliament will remain unchanged for the financial year 2021/22."
The watchdog had been planning to raise MPs’ salaries in 2021 in line with this autumn’s public sector wages.
If previous trends had continued, that could have triggered a 4.1% rise of to £85,291 - in the depths of the pandemic.
Yet millions of public sector workers including teachers and police now face a freeze in April - after the cut-off date for MPs' pay.
That would have meant they were suffering a real-terms pay cut at the same time as MPs enjoyed an above-inflation hike
IPSA had stressed no final decision had been taken.
The body’s four board members reflected on the PM’s comments and wider context before they made one.
