British MPs are to receive a one-off 10 percent pay increase just a month after the UK government announced a further £12.6 billion (18 billion euros) in austerity measures, to reduce the country's deficit.

The wage deal, which will see politicians' salaries rise to more than £67,000 (106,000 euros), has been denounced by ruling and opposition MPs alike, and has even led to an online petition signed by close to half a million people.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has also described the proposals as "unacceptable."

The pay hike couldn't have come at a worse time for popular opinion. Over the past five years, the UK has undergone the biggest cuts in public spending since World War II. Welfare payments have been frozen or cut and the use of food banks has increased exponentially.

Cameron's centre-right government has insisted further austerity measures are necessary to put the UK economy on a more secure path.

Despite the expected backlash, many well-known MPs supported the wage increase, tweeted Faizal Islam, Political Correspondent for the UK's Channel 4 News.

But officials insist the hike is a one-off, allowing MPs' salaries to compete with other top public sector wages.

"Pay has been an issue which has been ducked for decades, with independent reports and recommendations from experts ignored," said Ian Kennedy, Chairman of Britain's Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

He added that, for years, MPs' salaries have been supplemented by an "opaque and discredited" system of allowances. In 2009, several politicians were jailed following a parliamentary expenses scandal.

Following the affair, the IPSA was set up to determine a fair system of remuneration for MPs. It works independently of parliament and government.

After Thursday's hike, future pay increases will be tied to average rises in public sector wages, which have been capped at one percent per year for the next four years.

Kennedy says the pay hike won't cost the public any more money because it's tied into cuts to MPs' expenses, pensions and severance pay.

The new pay structure will be backdated to May 8, the day after the last general election.

Some politicians said they would donate their pay increase to charity, but it is not known whether Cameron has made a similar promise.

mm/jil (AFP, Reuters)