The petition was set up by Anne Martins, a former Prospect member based in Doncaster. Anne, who used to work for the environmental and rural science consultancy ADAS, said: “The fact that the government is looking to introduce local pay for public sector workers, but has not seen fit to apply it to MPs, smacked of ‘one rule for us; another for them’. I thought that drawing their attention to this was a route to make them think again. My biggest hope is that the proposal is stopped in its tracks.”

Sign the petition at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31541