CEREDIGION MP Mark Williams has hit out at claims he has failed to live up to a pledge to donate a £7,000 pay rise to charity, insisting he is being targeted by a “classic smear from political opponents”.

Mr Williams had twice stated he would donate the money from the 10 per cent pay rise if the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority insisted the increase should go ahead, but an online petition was launched demanding that Mr Williams “apologise for lying about giving away your pay rise” shortly after a Sun newspaper article claimed that he was one of a string of MPs that had failed to stick to their promise.

The IPSA decision saw pay for MPs rise from £67,060 to £74,000.

That has led to an angry Mr Williams hitting out, insisting that he had donated the extra money to charities in Ceredigion and was being criticised purely because he did not respond to an enquiry from the Sun or release personal financial details of his and his wife’s joint bank account.

See next week’s south editions for the full story