Mr McGovern said it would not be right for him to accept a hike in his wage when so many public and private sector employees are losing their jobs or facing pay freezes and cuts.

He said, “I have fought all my life for negotiated pay settlements, but at a time when workers across the country are accepting pay freezes and reduced hours to stave off redundancies, I will be refusing this pay increase.”

MPs used to vote on their own salaries, but the Senior Salaries Review Body recommended this pay rise after rules were introduced blocking MPs from deciding how much their pay went up.

The SSRB chairman Bill Cockburn wrote to Commons Speaker John Bercow at the tail end of last month to tell him about this year’s salary hike as part of an annual review of public sector finances.

The pay rise has come under fire from unions with the general secretary of the UK’s largest public sector union UNISON saying it did “not seem right” MPs’ salaries should go up.

The Tele also contacted Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie to ask if he, too, would be turning down the salary hike, but he had not responded at the time of going to press.