MPs back action on excessive pay

OLDHAM MPs are calling for a watchdog to be created to monitor excessive pay of fat cats.

Oldham West and Royton MP Michael Meacher and Ashton MP David Heyes believe creating a High Wage Commission would abolish ridiculous salaries and instead set out measures to tackle excessive pay.

Left-leaning pressure group Compass claims an employee working a 40 hour week earning the minimum wage would have to work for around 226 years to receive the same pay package that a chief executive of a FTSE 100 firm does in one year.

It is calling for Labour constituency parties to demand high pay be debated at the party conference later this month.

Many Labour MPs and campaigners have signed a petition launched by Compass calling for the top rate of pay to be addressed.

Mr Heyes said: “I was one of the first people to sign this and it has my strong backing. The model of the Low Pay Commission is a great model which addresses people being paid such low wages.

“Having a High Wage Commission would be an excellent way of dealing with such excesses that we have seen recently.

“What would help the economy is a sense of fairness. If you speak to people they are appalled by the greed of people, bankers and those with very high salaries. We need to show we are tackling all of this.”

The Low Pay Commission was set up in 1997 to advise on the minimum wage — which ensures people now cannot be paid less than £5.73 an hour if they are over 22.

The call comes days after Gordon Brown put executive bonuses back at the top of the agenda by saying it may be possible to cap rewards if they reach unjustifiable levels based on the firm’s revenue or profits.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said he was “not persuaded by” a high wage commission, saying it was not Government’s role to interfere in wage negotiations.