A BURNLEY Labour councillor has slammed the town's MP, Peter Pike, for bringing politics into "public contempt" by voting himself a mammoth 26 per cent pay rise.

Coun Marcus Johnstone, prospective Labour candidate for the Ribble Valley, says the new £43,000 salary MPs, like Mr Pike, Rossendale's Janet Anderson and Shadow Minister, Jack Straw of Blackburn, awarded themselves "is completely without any justification".

He says: "For MPs, including those in my own party, to even contemplate voting for a pay rise of such a magnitude is insensitivity beyond belief to those they represent."

Coun Johnstone, Burnley's economic and property committee chairman, gives a pat on the back to his Ribble Valley opponent at the General Election, sitting Tory MP, Nigel Evans who voted against the big rise and said he would only accept a three per cent increase.

And in a letter to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Coun Johnstone who currently earns just under £17,000 as a further education college lecturer, makes his own position clear.

"If elected as Ribble Valley's MP, I would be delighted to receive a salary even remotely close to the £34,000 which so many MPs consider to be inadequate and I would, therefore, not accept the 26 per cent pay rise."

He goes on: "By voting for such a large rise, the MPs responsible have brought even more public contempt on politics and the political process.

"This comes on top of a string of sleaze allegations and at a time when politicians of all parties are held in lower esteem than ever before."

Coun Johnstone says the real loser is democracy itself because the vote has led to public confidence in the democratic system being further eroded.

After last week's House of Commons vote in which Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice and Hyndburn's Greg Pope, opposed the huge increase, Mr Pike defended his action.

He said he would, in fact, be out of pocket, with the pay rise more than offset by a cut in travel allowances.

"I believe the pay rise is justified," he said.

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