Boris Johnson believes MPs should not receive a pay rise this year, Downing Street has said, as MPs called on the government to legislate to prevent the publicly damaging pay increase. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which sets MPs’ salaries, is expected to recommended that MPs should get a 4.1% increase worth £3,300. The move, should it go ahead, is likely to spark public indignation coupled with an expected public sector pay freeze at the spending review later this week. Johnson’s spokesman said the prime minister had already acted where he had the power to do so and had frozen ministerial pay, but said he did not believe MPs should get a rise. “MPs’ salaries are obviously decided by an independent body but given the circumstances, the PM doesn’t believe MPs should be receiving a pay rise,” the spokesman said. Ipsa, which was set up in the wake of the expenses’ scandal, has a statutory duty to review MPs’ pay in the first year of a parliament but many parliamentarians have publicly spoken out against the potential increase. John Redwood, a former cabinet minister, tweeted that if a public sector pay freeze was announced then Johnson “must legislate to override the independent MP pay body that otherwise will pay more to MPs at a time of restraint”. The former minister Steve Baker said: “Ipsa must freeze MP pay if there is a public sector pay freeze. If necessary, the law must be changed.” Rachel Maclean, the transport minister, also released a statement saying MPs should not get a pay rise. “I vehemently believe now is not the right time for MPs to be receiving a pay rise,” she said in a statement. “Ipsa should be blocked from attempting to give MPs this increase in pay… The government should consider all options to block Ipsa from awarding this pay rise.” The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is preparing to announce a renewed squeeze on public sector pay in this week’s government spending review in response to the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement on pay restraint is expected to be part of the mini-budget on Wednesday, as part of plans to launch a Whitehall savings drive to tackle record levels of government borrowing incurred during the crisis. Senior leaders from 18 of the country’s biggest trade unions have warned the chancellor that pay controls during the health emergency could cause a staffing crisis.