MP Sir Roger Gale is backing plans to bump up parliamentary members' paypackets by 10% to £74,000.

The MP for Thanet North says "the story was not correct" that members' income would increase under the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA)'s proposal.

IPSA's changes would mean MPs seeing their current standard salaries of £67,000 bumped to £74,000 – which compares to a national average salary of £27,000.

But according to Mr Gale, planned reduction to benefits including pensions, meal allowances and death in service payments mean the proposal is "actually a balancing measure".

His support for the move comes despite Prime Minister David Cameron stating before the General Election that the move was unacceptable given wider public sector pay conditions.

Senior government officials have now written to IPSA to note their concerns over the proposals – created in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal.

The scandal was uncovered in 2009 and had occurred under a system allowing parliament to self-regulate allowances for MPs.

Mr Gale said: “This story is wrong that there is a 10% increase, as IPSA is giving on one hand and taking away with another, so this is actually a balancing measure - which is the right thing to do.

“MPs don’t go into the job for the money – most of the members that I know have taken a considerable pay cut to enter Parliament.”

The senior Conservative also warned that in order to attract the finest young talent for the job, an appropriate salary for working in London must be offered.

He added that when he entered parliament in 1983, he himself took a significant cut in wages from his career in the media.

Mr Gale added: “This isn’t going to affect people like me so much, but it is an issue for young members of parliament, particularly those who have come into Westminster for the first time.

This isn’t a party issue, there are some very bright young politicians on both sides of the house. We want those young people to be able to do the job properly.”