With the announcement on Thursday that MPs are to receive a 2.7% pay rise, taking their salaries from £77,379 to £79,468, MPs in East Lancashire have been condemning the decision, with some saying it is not justified.

Following reforms in 2010 to the way MPs’ pay is calculated, the rise became automatic and was not subject to a vote in the House of Commons but agreed by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), a completely separate body to Parliament.

The £2,089 a year hike, will be effective from April 1, and is well above the current inflation rate of 1.8% on the main CPI measure.

Ribble Valley Conservative MP Nigel Evans said that whatever pay increase MPs are awarded, it will always fall foul of public opinion.

He said: "I will accept the pay rise. But irrespective of what the award is, it's always going to be unpopular and that's why it's right that this decision is taken out of the hands of Parliament and given to an independent authority.

"It's not fair that MPs should decide their salaries themselves."

The pay increase follows a 1.8% boost to MPs’ pay last year, 1.4% in 2017, 1.3% in 2016 and a big increase from £67,000 to £74,000 in July 2015.

A statement released by IPSA on Thursday stated that the rise is in line with average increases to public sector pay, which are determined by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

TaxPayers’ Alliance grassroots campaign manager Harry Fone said: “A lot of taxpayers are going to be annoyed by this announcement.

“In the private sector, pay rises and bonuses are rewarded based on performance, not for just turning up.

"IPSA are once again out of touch with the public."

Conservative MP for Pendle, Andrew Stephenson echoed Mr Fone's comments and said that most of the public will be looking at this with horror, especially at a time when MPs are failing to sort out Brexit.

He said: "The public will be quite rightly outraged by this as it's unjustified. When we were first given a pay rise I committed to giving away some of my salary to charity, particularly in Pendle and I will continue to do this.

"It's right that public sector pay is being increased but this will go down very badly with the people who we represent, when we are earning up to three times as much as someone in a place like Pendle.

"IPSA should reflect on this an stop giving us pay rises."

Labour MP for Hyndburn, Graham Jones, said: "IPSA should be abolished. We have not asked for a pay rise and I don't agree with it and I don't agree that IPSA should keep putting our pay up.

"They don't realise that they've already given high earners a pay rise by increasing the higher rate of tax so anyone earning over £40,000 a year will earn more anyway, compared to someone in the public sector on a lower pay scale.

"It's wrong."