Tory MP Tobias Ellwood claims he deserves a 10 per cent pay rise because he doesn't earn enough

A Tory MP who earns almost £90,000 a year has sparked outrage after claiming he deserves a 10 per cent pay rise because he doesn't earn enough and has to 'watch the pennies'.

Tobias Ellwood, who until yesterday had his £67,060-a-year MP's salary topped up by another £20,000 for being a junior minister, complained that he had to scrimp just to get by.

Mr Ellwood, the MP for Bournemouth East, revealed his plight in a letter to the Commons' expenses and salary watchdog IPSA, before it announced yesterday that all MPs will receive a £7,000-a-year salary hike - taking their pay to £74,000.

Mr Ellwood, who lives with his solicitor wife in a £700,000 converted barn in a Dorset village and rents a London flat, said the pay rise was well overdue and much needed in his case.

He wrote: 'I know I speak for the silent majority (who are not millionaires) to say this increase is well overdue. I never expected to be watching the pennies at my age and yet this is what I now have to do.'

With the increase to £94,000, his salary will be more than three times the national average wage of £26,500, or the £28,000 a year taken home by an NHS nurse.

Bournemouth taxpayers have reacted with fury to the former Army captain's comments, claiming he is out of touch with reality.

Kay Burton said: 'I'm an NHS worker, we're poorly paid, work extremely hard and get little thanks.

'Go and spend a day with your sleeves rolled up in any hospital and then try and manage. £90,000 a year - I'd feel like I'd won the lottery.'

Another voter posted on an internet forum: 'Watching the pennies? Are you seriously taking the p***? There are families out there that go without dinners, hot water and clothes and you're saying that. Why make such an insensitive comment?'

Another said: 'Lots of us have to live on the minimum wage or not much more. I'm a couple of years older than him and, in spite of having a degree, have to watch every penny as I only earn about 1,000 a month.'

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: '£67,000 is by no means a small salary, and all MPs should be mindful of that.

'However, we should aim our fire at IPSA - this unaccountable quango has forced through a pay rise that makes a mockery of spending restraint elsewhere in the public sector.'

David Cameron has refused to say whether or not he will accept the 10 per cent MPs' pay rise awarded by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority yesterday

The Commons' expenses and salary watchdog IPSA announced yesterday that all MPs will receive a £7,000-a-year salary hike - taking their pay to £74,000

Mr Ellwood, 48, was first elected as an MP in 2005 and now serves as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Alongside his salary, he claimed expenses last year totalling £55,828.96, including £27,192 in rent which is believed to be for his London flat, £148.80 in taxis and £83.55 for coffees and teas.

In his letter to IPSA dated June 5, Mr Ellwood implored the body to increase MPs salaries.

He said that he would be earning far more had stayed in the Armed Forces and complained about having to cover things like an annual lunch with the mayor and travel expenses out of his own pocket.

He wrote: 'Those who are vocal about turning down the MPs' increases have all acquired considerable wealth and can afford it.

'Without a competitive salary you will fill this place with rich people and not those such as me who have taken a salary cut to serve here.

'In addition, as an MP, I have no hospitality budget so when, for example, the Mayor of Bournemouth comes up for an annual lunch at the House of Commons, the bill comes out of my own pocket.

'I exhaust my car travel mileage, as I return to Bournemouth most weekends and my wife exhausts her rail travel allowance for the same reason. So we have to pay all this extra ourselves.'

Mr Ellwood declined to comment on the letter today.

Mr Ellwood joined the Royal Green Jackets in 1991 and served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Kuwait, Germany, Gibraltar and Bosnia, before leaving with the rank of Captain in 1996.

He became a researcher to Conservative MP Tom King and later a senior business manager with the London Stock Exchange in 1999.

Mr Ellwood unsuccessfully stood for parliament in 2001 but won the Conservative safe seat of Bournemouth East in 2005 and has kept it the last ten years.