A government minister says MHKs and MLCs shouldn't receive special treatment over pensions.

A six month consultation period began this week over proposals to overhaul the Island’s public sector pensions scheme, from which members of Tynwald are excluded.

The employees' side of Whitley Council is asking why politicians aren't subject to the same scrutiny as others, and South Douglas MHK Bill Malarkey posed a similar question in the House of Keys.

Answering, on behalf of the chief minister, Agriculture Minister and Rushen MHK Phil Gawne (pictured) made it clear he thought members of the legislature should be treated the same.

In an interview with Manx Radio he said:

"The chairman of the committee that is the responsible for Tynwald pensions, the Speaker of the House of Keys, has already issued a very clear letter to Tynwald members to say that their pension scheme will be kept under review.

"Clearly, the result of the Hymans Robertson Review will be awaited with great interest and, where applicable, the changes made under that scheme will be considered and possibly implemented for the Tynwald members' scheme.

"Personally I believe that we should fully implement the same conditions that are imposed on our workforce. We should have those conditions in our scheme."