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Scots ministers agree pay freeze Scots ministers agree pay freeze
(20 minutes later)
All Scottish ministers have agreed to a pay freeze this year. All Scottish Government ministers have agreed to a pay freeze this year.
The Scottish Government claimed the move, which will save £15,000, was to show support for people in Scotland struggling to cope with the recession. The freeze will apply to their ministerial income and their salaries as individual MSPs, which would have gone up by 2.33%.
The five cabinet secretaries and 10 ministers also agreed to a freeze in their MSP salaries, at £55,381. The Scottish Government claimed it was aligning itself with the plight many people were facing in the current economic difficulties
First Minister Alex Salmond is only entitled to a third of his MSP salary, as he also has a Westminster seat. He puts £18,461 into a charitable trust. The pay freeze will apply to First Minister Alex Salmond's ministerial salary of £80,224.
Mr Salmond, also MP for Banff and Buchan, has promised to put a proportion of the £1,500 rise in his Westminster pay packet into the trust, although a spokesman declined to say how much. But it will not apply to the salary he takes as a Westminster MP.
'Efficient' government Move forward
MP salaries will rise to about £64,766 from 1 April, an increase of 2.33%. The pay freeze does not apply to MSPs who are not ministers.
Mr Salmond earns £80,224 from his first minister's salary. Their £55,381 salary is to increase by 2.33%, in line with the increase for Westminster MPs.
The Scottish cabinet secretaries make £41,618 and junior ministers, £26,069, on top of their MSP pay. The five Scottish cabinet secretaries make £41,618 and 10 junior ministers get £26,069, on top of their MSP pay.
The SNP also said it had saved £136,000 since coming to power in May 2007, due to its "efficient" government drive. A Scottish Government spokesman said: "It is reflective of the pressures that are on families and individuals just now.
The move mirrored action taken by the UK Government, after Gordon Brown announced a freeze in the salaries of his ministers. "Ministers are showing a lead in pay issues.
Ministers who are MPs will also forgo the rise in their parliamentary pay, to which they are entitled. "The first minister invited ministers to do this, and they are content to move forward with that position."
Under the rules of devolution, Mr Salmond takes his MP's salary, and also takes one-third of his Holyrood salary, which he then donates to a charitable trust.
His spokesman said that in Mr Salmond's case the freeze would apply to his ministerial salary, but not to his MP's salary.
He would give the charitable trust extra money to compensate for the additional cash it would have received if his MSP salary had not been frozen.
Under current rules, MSP salaries are set at 87.5% of MP pay levels.