Harriett Baldwin has repeated her calls to cut the cost of politics. IPSA is expected to recommend an 11 per cent pay rise for MPs from 2015 in a report due out later this week. And Harriett has been outspoken in her criticism of the independent body which was set up to manage the MPs’ expenses system and is now trying to push through a salary review. Speaking on ITV’s Daybreak today, Harriett said: “I wrote into the consultation and I said that given the fact that public sector pay is being restrained in the way that it is that we should only have the same sort of increases as average public sector are having. “If we could have had, as we were proposing in this Parliament, a reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600, then I would have said that there was a productivity gain and we should get a rise, but unfortunately the Liberal Democrats did block that and we are not going to have that.” Harriett also added: “I have often called for a reduction in the cost of politics in Westminster, whether it’s cutting the number of MPs or reforming the House of Lords. IPSA was introduced to bring some transparency to the expenses system and it has successfully delivered on that aim. “But IPSA is now costing the taxpayer £6 million a year, and it employs several staff who are paid more than MPs. It seems to me that it is time to thank IPSA for their reforms so far, and outsource the expense payment and publication to a private sector firm for a fraction of the cost.”