Members of parliament who want large pay rises are “living on a different planet to the rest of us”, according to Gordon Henderson.

He refused to complete a questionnaire sent to all MPs by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority as part of a review on salaries and expenses.

He said: “The vast majority of MPs, like me, thought they had more important things to worry about.

“Our basic salary is about £64,000 which is two and a half times the average salary.

“It’s a perfectly good salary and those people calling for an increase live on a different planet to the rest of us.”

The review’s findings were released last week and revealed that 69% of respondents felt they were underpaid – on average they said they should receive £86,250 a year.

Mr Henderson’s views are a far cry from his predecessor Derek Wyatt, who was the Labour MP for the constituency from 1997 to 2010.

Speaking last week, he said: “I’m of the opinion they are underpaid. When I was an MP I did between 80 to 100 hours of work a week.

“That’s a lot of time. It was never-ending.

“I worked those sort of hours when I was in business and I had substantial six-figure sums.

“I know we are in recession but they do a good job and it’s time to give them a decent salary.

“Most MPs I know and have known work their cotton socks off.”