Premier Alex Scott is proposing to go ahead with a radical overhaul of politicians? salaries that will result in his own pay packet increasing by 80 percent to $200,000.

Any MP who is also a full-time Minister will see their salary rise from $78,856 to $100,000, with higher awards to the Deputy Premier, Finance Minister and Attorney General.

Mr. Scott has proposed the pay increases, which are in line with a recent Salaries Review Board?s recommendations, be back-dated to April 1.

But the United Bermuda Party has expressed concern at the ?top heavy? awarding of large salaries to the highest ranking politicians and disparities such as MPs seeing their pay jump nearly 27 percent, while Senators who deal with the same legislation get only an extra $815 to increase their salary to $27,102.

The UBP also believes there should be some form of public accountability to ensure politicians are earning their salaries, such as keeping tabs on who is turning up for parliamentary sittings and fulfilling their roles.

Opposition Shadow Minister without Portfolio Michael Dunkley said there is also concern about the impact of full-time Ministers potentially having to give up their jobs outside of politics, although the definition of a full-time Minister and whether he or she will be obliged to give up non-political work is not specified in the Premier?s resolution, which was tabled in the House of Assembly last Friday.

It is due to be put before MPs for discussion this Friday. Mr. Dunkley said: ?We are concerned about the way the thing was done. The committee was set up but we do not think the mandate of the committee was broad enough to do the job it was supposed to do.?

Opposition leader Wayne Furbert has previously stated his Party would not support the pay hikes because, in his opinion, the committee report had given ?no justifiable reason? for the increases, did not take into account impact on MPs? pensions and other benefits, and gave Senators a much lower increase in line with the Consumer Price Index.

The proposed table of salaries would increase the Deputy Premier?s salary to $112,000 and the Finance Minister to $120,000, providing both are full-time Ministers. The Attorney General will receive $145,796 plus his Senate salary of $27,102.

Mr. Dunkley said: ?It appears the Cabinet and Ministers sat down with the committee but members of the Opposition were not consulted in any way.?

He said the UBP was not comfortable discussing its salaries and would not lobby the review committee, although the Party does agree MPs need to be paid more than the current rate.

While the Premier?s resolution makes no mention of whether a full-time Minister would need to give up any work they do outside of politics, Mr. Dunkley is worried such an arrangement could affect the ability to attracting quality candidates to serve as Ministers if they run the risk of losing their livelihood at an election because they have no other job to fall back on.

He said: ?We believe it is just a way to pay Ministers more money because they do not have another job.?

He pointed out that whereas UBP Leader Mr. Furbert said in March any salary increases should come into effect after the election of the next Parliament, the Premier was proposing to not only introduce the rises immediately but also backdate them to April 1.