MPs will be handed a £2,000 pay rise on the same day the families will be hit with a double cost of living blow.

The basic salary of politicians is due to increase by almost three per cent after the independent watchdog decided to upgrade their annual earnings.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has announced that the annual adjustment to MPs’ basic pay for 2022-23 will be 2.7 per cent – the same as the average increase in pay for public sector employees last year.

It will bring the overall salary from £81,932 to £84,144 from April 1 – an increase of £2,212 per year.

The move comes as Britons face a cost of living squeeze in April, with national insurance contributions going up to fund the NHS backlog caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the energy cap rising by more than 50 per cent.

But Richard Lloyd, Ipsa’s chairman, said it was “right” that MPs were “paid fairly”, particularly with their work “dramatically” increasing in the past 12 months.

Ipsa said the decision was “in line” with its previous ruling in 2015 to adjust MPs’ pay at the same rate as changes in public sector earnings published by the Office of National Statistics.

It is the first increase in MPs’ pay for two years, as pay remained unchanged in 2021 due to the Covid crisis, the watchdog said in a statement.