(ANSA) - Rome, October 25 - A vote to send back to the committee stage a bill halving MPs' pay was a "kick in the face for all honest people," the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which filed the bill, said Tuesday. It said the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) had "written a dark page for democracy". "The caste continues to save itself, keeping its privileges intact, demanding sacrifices of citizens who can't make it to the end of the month," the M5S MPs said in a statement. "It's a disgrace", they said. Earlier M5S leader Beppe Grillo said Pope Francis himself "would be happy" with the bill.
The PD has "betrayed faithfulness to the Constitutional mandate" in voting to send back to the committee stage a House bill on halving MPs' pay, Grillo said. Grillo compared the PD MPs to "cows who declares themselves holy" and said they had "betrayed the faith and mandate they received from voters in the most profound way".