If the MPs are worth that much money, surely the minimum wage should be increased to �5 an hour

Unison

The 3% increase was also given to 3,000 senior civil servants, including Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman Alastair Campbell.

The cost to the taxpayer is �6.5m but with inflation running at 2.9% MPs could get even more as a separate review of their pay and allowances is due to be published next month.

Extra cash for judges

Senior military personnel and 1,700 judges are to get a 3.7% salary boost.

Politicians' pay

Backbechers, �49,222 Cabinet ministers, �117,979 Prime minister, �163,418

And another 210,000 regular armed forces personnel will also get 3.7%.

MPs' pay has been linked to the senior civil service automatically for several years, to avoid the Commons having to vote itself for any uprating.

Ministers, including Mr Blair, have not taken their full pay in the past and that tradition will continue at least until March, Downing Street confirmed on Friday.

Blair's entitlement tops �160,000

Mr Blair currently takes �112,951 of the �158,658 he is entitled to and that will increase to �116,339 - with the entitlement rising to �163,418.

Cabinet ministers take �96,887 of the �114,543 they are entitled to and that will increase to �99,793 out of a possible �117,979.

Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, the highest paid member of the government, will see his pay increase by 3% on his current �167,760 salary.

The increases come into force from April.

Affordable

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: "The government regards these awards as fair and affordable and accepts them in full."

Unison, the country's biggest union, said it did not begrudge the MPs their pay rise because it believed that pay review body recommendations should be implemented in full.

"If the MPs are worth that much money, surely the minimum wage should be increased to �5 an hour," a spokeswoman said.