Labour Pledges to Reform Ministerial Severance Pay Following Tories Receiving £1 Million Last Year

Labour has committed to overhauling ministerial severance payment rules, revealing that the frequent changes in the cabinet across the last three prime ministers resulted in a payout of over £930,000 in the previous year.

The party proposes three significant changes to cut costs and align with civil servants' standards. Firstly, ministers would receive a quarter of their earnings from the past year rather than the full final salary. Secondly, any severance being paid to an MP who resumes a ministerial role would be reclaimed. Lastly, ministers under investigation for misconduct would have payouts suspended, nullified upon any allegations being substantiated.

This overhaul could have reduced the number of payouts from 98 to 76 and shrunk the severance sum by over 40%, from £933,086 to approximately £555,093 last year. Notable examples of questioned payouts include Chris Pincher's £7,920 despite allegations of misconduct and Rehman Chishti's would-be reduced severance from £5,593 to £936 under these new regulations.

Jonathan Ashworth MP criticized the system that allowed ministers to receive generous severance payments regardless of how short their tenure or the circumstances of their departure. Labour aims to eliminate these loopholes with the proposed reforms.