Most respondents to a Royal Gazette online poll feel that Bermuda's politicians are paid too much.

More than 711 people responded to the unscientific poll on www.theroyalgazette.com, with 65.3 percent saying they felt Bermuda's politicians are paid "too much", while 12 percent said they were paid "the right amount".

Just 8.3 percent said they were not paid enough and 14.5 percent said they did not know.

The poll, which ended on Sunday, was held while MPs and Senators debated plans to have an independent committee set up to determine pay increases for legislators.

At the moment, parliamentarians determine their own pay increases, which follow either the rate of inflation, or more recently, the increases granted to civil servants.

The poll seems to contradict arguments made by Premier Alex Scott that Bermuda's politicians are underpaid and are lagging behind politicians overseas.

"Salaries for parliamentarians in Bermuda have fallen behind their counterparts in other jurisdictions," he said. "We must not allow parliamentarian's salaries to fall further and further behind."