“Everyone counts or nobody counts.”
Downing Street is planning on tearing up restrictions on the pay packets of city bosses in a bid to showcase the benefits of Brexit, while at the same time urging ordinary workers to show pay restraint.
The revelations, made by the i, come as the government tells rail workers to show pay restraint, as the biggest rail strikes in 30 years kicked off today.
The i reports that: “Steve Barclay, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak with a plan for “deregulatory measures to reduce the overall burden on business” and attract more firms to the UK.
“One key plank of the plan included “removing restrictions on director (and specifically NED [non-executive director]) remuneration as suggested by the London Stock Exchange Group to improve London’s attractiveness for listings.”
It’s worth highlighting that the UK’s current rules on corporate pay are based on the country’s previous membership of the European Union, which included a cap on bonus pay, set at no more than 100 per cent of fixed pay or double that with explicit shareholder approval.
Reacting to the news, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: “So there we have it: the “benefits of Brexit” are bigger bonuses for city execs, while everyone else faces a cost of living crisis
“It’s almost as if Nigel Farage was a city trader himself once…”
Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union tweeted: “This government now openly at war with working class people. Suppressing wages, attacking unions, demonising those want to fight back.
“All whilst planning to up City bosses pay.
“Back every worker and every union that makes a stand.
“Everyone counts or nobody counts.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
As you’re here, we have something to ask you. What we do here to deliver real news is more important than ever. But there’s a problem: we need readers like you to chip in to help us survive. We deliver progressive, independent media, that challenges the right’s hateful rhetoric. Together we can find the stories that get lost.
We’re not bankrolled by billionaire donors, but rely on readers chipping in whatever they can afford to protect our independence. What we do isn’t free, and we run on a shoestring. Can you help by chipping in as little as £1 a week to help us survive? Whatever you can donate, we’re so grateful - and we will ensure your money goes as far as possible to deliver hard-hitting news.