Lord Irvine's pay rise put on hold

Lord Irvine was forced into a humiliating U-turn last night over his inflation-busting £22,000 pay rise.

The Lord Chancellor's 12.6 per cent upgrade is now to be put on hold, pending a salary review.

The proposed wage increase prompted a furious political row and condemnation from all parties, especially as it coincided with teachers being given a 2.9 per cent rise on a par with inflation, and troops heading to the Gulf being promised less than £500 a year extra.

Lord Irvine has now agreed to cut his pay rise back to 2.25 per cent, the same percentage as that of his Cabinet colleagues. The Lord Chancellor's Department has bowed to public pressure and asked the Senior Salaries Review Body to review the relationship between judicial salaries and those of the senior civil service.

An arcane law stipulates that the Lord Chancellor's annual salary must always be £2,500 higher than that of the Lord Chief Justice. Lord Irvine's annual pay was to increase by £22,691 to £202,736.

Ian Gibson, a backbench Labour MP, said Lord Irvine had been pressed by Tony Blair to reject the first pay rise.