But Senator Ian Gorst says he’d only back the idea if the overall pot of money allocated to pay States members isn’t increased.
Since he seemed to rule out cutting other members’ pay, the only way, as he himself admitted, to balance the books would be to reduce the number of States members.
Last week an independent report recommended freezing States members’ pay at £46,600 a year, but concluded – since the Chief Minister in theory works harder and has more responsibility – he should get a 15% rise, bringing his or her salary up to £53,600 from 2018.
The question, from the head of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, Deputy Simon Bree, came towards the end of an times heated regular quarterly meeting, and seemed to take Senator Gorst somewhat by surprise.
Clearly not wanting to appear to be backing the pay increase for purely personal reasons, he made it clear he hadn’t made any submission to the panel, and pointed out that if the proposal was introduced it would be after his current term of office.
He also went on to point out that in the end whether the increase gets the go ahead will be up to PPC – the Privileges and Procedures Committee. It hadn’t escaped Senator Gorst’s notice that two of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel – Deputy Simon Bree and Constable Chris Taylor – both sit on PPC.