MPs want their pensions to be subject to different rules

Kettle on: Police officers in riot gear contain student protesters on Westminster Bridge in December 2010 (GETTY IMAGES)

MPs have been accused of "feathering their own nests" by fighting a move to increase their pension contributions in line with those of the rest of the public sector.

The Commons was today due to debate a motion that would transfer responsibility for pensions to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa).

However, Tory and Labour MPs do not like a section of the text that states that their contributions should rise alongside those of other workers – and an amendment put down by Conservative backbencher Christopher Chope and others aims to delete it.

Mr Chope said that the Government was being "inconsistent" because it had given Ipsa control, but was then seeking to tell it what to do.

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the union Unite, said: "While they bay for cuts to public sector pensions, they act to feather their own nests. This will appal ordinary people."

Public sector workers have been told they will have to pay up to 2.4 per cent more into pensions from April. Further rises over the next two years, are set to bring the average additional contribution to 3.2 per cent.