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| Welsh assembly members set for £10,000 pay rise | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Members of the Welsh assembly could get a £10,000 pay rise after the 2016 election, the body which sets their salaries has said. | |
| The increase would be 18% more than their current basic pay of around £54,000. | |
| Sandy Blair, chair of the remuneration board, said: "With new responsibilities come new expectations on AMs. | Sandy Blair, chair of the remuneration board, said: "With new responsibilities come new expectations on AMs. |
| "We are proposing a salary for AMs which reflects the weight of responsibility they carry." | "We are proposing a salary for AMs which reflects the weight of responsibility they carry." |
| ''We hope that the people of Wales will share our view of the standing of our National Assembly, the quality of individual they should expect to seek election and the level of performance they should demand of them." | |
| 'Highest calibre' | |
| Mr Blair said the increase in base salaries for AMs would cost around £580,000 in 2016-17, but half of the total would be recovered through savings in the pension scheme and cuts to the additional salaries paid to ministers and other office holders. | |
| As a result, First Minister Carwyn Jones and members of his cabinet will see their pay rise by around £4,000, taking their salaries to £140,000 and £100,000 respectively. | |
| Opposition group leaders will see their pay increase by more than £10,000. | |
| The recommendations now go to public consultation with a finalised package to be published in May 2015, a year before the 2016 assembly election. | |
| "Clearly, people in Wales are facing difficult economic circumstances and there is great pressure on public spending," Mr Blair added. | |
| "But that is precisely why Wales needs to attract the highest calibre people to be members of the National Assembly. | |
| ''Wales needs good governance and good government. That requires a strong, effective National Assembly. | |
| "For it to be so, the individual members of the assembly must be exceptional in their motivation and abilities and remunerated accordingly." |