Nick Clegg says he will not take pay rise as row grows over attempt to increase MPs' salaries Deputy Prime Minister says public will not understand surge in pay Cameron calls for any rise to be linked to cuts to MPs' generous pensions Tory David Davis says government must chance law to block 'bonkers' rise By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor and Tim Shipman Warning: Nick Clegg said the public would not accept MPs having a big pay rise Nick Clegg today vowed not to accept a £10,000 pay rise. The Deputy Prime Minister warned the public would find it 'impossible to understand' if MPs' salaries rose to £75,000 at a time when most people were enduring pay freezes or capped increases of just one per cent. Mr Clegg said he was 'luckier' than backbench MPs because he receives an extra £68,000 as a Cabinet minister on top of the £65,000 MP's salary. But he said he could not accept the rise if it goes ahead. Speaking at his new monthly press conference, Mr Clegg said: My own view is that the public would find it impossible to understand - particularly as millions of people in the public sector whose pay is only increasing by one per cent - they would find it impossible to understand that MPs would be receiving pay increases far above that. He went on: '"Speaking for myself I would certainly seek to do whatever I can to make sure that either this decision is not taken in the first place - but that's out of my hands - but, secondly, if were to be taken, not to take that pay increase.' The Lib Dem leader is the most senior MP to say he would not take the pay rise if it is recommended by IPSA later this week. The setting of MPs' pay was handed to the independent watchdog in the wake of the expenses scandal, to stop the Commons awarding themselves large rises or using allowances to give pay increases by stealth. Tory MP David Davis said the government would have to change the law to stop the 'bonkers' rise going ahead. He told BBC Two's Daily Politics: 'The Government may have to legislate to stop it, frankly. 'I know, it's bonkers, but I don't think when they started down the road, they thought that a) we'd be in the parlous state we are economically now, and b) that [IPSA] would come up with a proposal like this.' He said it was better to put forward a motion stopping the rise, than for individual MPs to decline it. 'The point about this is about trust with the public, and the public at large will just not see the point of this, and I think that's the real issue. MPs are set for a generous pay hike But in an anonymous IPSA survey on pay, MPs from all parties said they deserved to earn more. On average, Tories said their salary should be £96,740, while Lib Dems thought the right amount was £78,361 and Labour £77,322. Today former Tory minister Tim Loughton said it would be 'completely inappropriate' for MPs to take a pay rise at the current time. He told BBC Radio 4: 'There's a whole debate as to whether MPs are sufficiently paid compared to other counterparts, but for MPs to be offered £7,000 - or whatever it is, we don't know the details yet - would be absolutely absurd, and I for one wouldn't be accepting it now... 'It would be completely inappropriate for us to accept it at the moment, but that's one of the downsides of when you hand over pay and conditions to an independent body of IPSA. I for one, if it does come through, will not be accepting it now. It's not the right time, it sends the wrong message to the rest of the country going through a tough time.' David Cameron has warned it would be "unthinkable" to reward MPs with a £10,000 pay rise and urged "restraint." Even if members were given a small increase, they would have to make sacrifices to their gold-plated pensions to pay for it, added Mr Cameron.