Liz Truss’s tax cuts will boost the salaries of fat cats and leave working Brits with less pay, a union chief has warned.
Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary today blasts the Tory leadership frontrunner for failing to commit to a plan that will tackle the record drop in UK wages.
Ofgem is expected to increase the energy price cap this Friday from £1,971 to around £3,600.
Despite this, Ms Truss has rejected “handouts” deeming them a form of “Gordon Brown-style economics”.
Her rival Rishi Sunak warns her tax cuts will plunge the economy into an “inflation spiral”.
Rishi Sunak’s campaign said the Foreign Secretary would increase borrowing to “historic and dangerous levels”, and place public finances into “serious jeopardy”, if she attempts to later help Brits with cost of living payments while cutting tax.
Scroll down for the article by TUC chief Frances O’Grady.
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REUTERS)
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Jess Hurd)
He has previously warned her tax cuts could leave the poorest people at “risk of real destitution”, adding “we are going to, as a Conservative Government, leave millions of incredibly vulnerable people at the risk of real destitution”.
Horrifying figures from the TUC and the High Pay Centre think tank reveal a FTSE 100 CEO is paid 109 times more than the average full-time worker.
In the wake of the pandemic, fat cats enjoyed a huge salary increase of 39 per cent – from £2.46m in 2020 to £3.41m in 2021.
CEO pay has also surpassed the £3.25m median recorded in 2019.
The TUC warns the cost of living crisis will continue to worsen if large employers are paying millions more to already very wealthy executives, as it makes it harder to fund pay increases for low and middle income workers.
Ms O’Grady tells the Mirror: ” Liz Truss wants tax cuts for the big companies that pay these fat cat salaries – another opportunity to make executives and shareholders richer.
“And Rishi Sunak demands pay cuts for ordinary workers, without a word about pay restraint in the boardroom.
“Little prospect of change there. Time for working people to demand better.”
Ms O’Grady has called for a rise in the national minimum wage – with the next rise brought forward to October to help with this winter’s bills. Ms Truss rejected “handouts” as a way of helping people affected by the cost of living crisis.
Labour revealed plans to ensure lowest-paid workers salaries will increase by hundreds of pounds over a year.
All over-18s would also be entitled to the same living wage under the proposal to scrap the lower rates for younger adults.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the move would create a “genuine” national living wage for workers rather than a “fake living wage they can’t live on”.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady writes for the Mirror
Just think what you could do with a 39% pay rise.
Put it towards surging energy bills. Buy school uniforms for the new term. Or maybe make it to the next payday without visiting a foodbank.
The CEOs who got a 39% pay rise don’t need it. The cost of living emergency has no impact on them – they are paid millions already
For a moment during the pandemic, it looked like things might just change.
Ministers admitted that key workers who put their lives on the line are paid too little. And CEOs reined in their pay while their companies took furlough cash to survive.
But the first chance they get, big bosses are back to the old ways. Build back better? No – a fat cat feeding frenzy.
We need stronger rules to rein in executive pay. Seats for workers on pay committees and company boards, to bring a dose of reality to decisions. Boardroom bonuses replaced with profit-sharing schemes for all staff.
And working people deserve a greater share of the wealth they create. Ministers must make a plan to get wages rising. With inflation running at 10%, all workers need pay that keeps up with rising prices.
It’s time to raise the national minimum wage – with the next rise brought forward to October to help with this winter’s bills. And we need a new system of industry-wide fair pay agreements to get pay rising in low pay sectors.
That’s how we can build a fair economy where working people have the money they need to care for their families.
So will the next PM be any different?
Liz Truss wants tax cuts for the big companies that pay these fat cat salaries – another opportunity to make executives and shareholders richer.
And Rishi Sunak demands pay cuts for ordinary workers, without a word about pay restraint in the boardroom.
Little prospect of change there. Time for working people to demand better.