Labour

Jon Trickett, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, has written to the First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Damien Green, asking why the Government has allowed a third of Special Advisers to be paid more than the Prime Minister’s SpAd pay cap of £72,000, while limiting other public sector workers to 1 per cent.

It comes as No10 is set to appoint a new Director of Communications, a role which previously attracted a salary in excess of £100,000.

Jon Trickett said:

“This Government is happier spending money on spin doctors than real doctors. It’s the same for nurses, firefighters and police who are trying to make ends meet.

“Theresa May had some nerve telling an underpaid nurse who’d seen a 14% real term cut in pay there was no “Magic Money Tree”, only to find an extra billion pounds down the back of the settee for a grubby deal with the DUP to cling to power.

“It’s a disgrace that a third of the Tories’ spinners and advisers are being paid more than Theresa May’s declared pay cap of £72,000 whilst hardworking public sector workers are limited to a miserly 1% pay increase. Even the Prime Minister’s own joint Chiefs of Staff were paid £140,000 – almost double her declared cap. And now she’s looking for a new Director of Communications, a role previously paid £125,000.

“The Prime Minister has ignored calls to lift the public sector pay cap. But it seems that like with David Cameron, some people can access the Magic Money Tree in the Downing Street garden as long as they have the right pass to get to it.

“The Government has forced pay restraint on public sector workers; but there is no such restraint inside Theresa May’s Number 10.”

Full text of letter to Damian Green:

Dear Damian Green,

Today in Cabinet Office Oral Questions I asked you about Special Advisers’ pay and the public sector pay cap. You failed to answer my question.

To recap, following the Government’s refusal to lift the pay cap for thousands of nurses, police and firefighters, among many other public servants, I am writing to enquire about the pay for Special Advisers to Secretaries of State.

When Theresa May became Prime Minister she promised the pay of Special Advisers would be capped at £72,000, unless authorised by her personally. However, the Government’s own figures from December 2016 showed that of the 83 Government Special Advisers, 27 breached this limit. In fact, former advisers to the Prime Minister, her two Joint Chiefs of Staff, were both paid £140,000 a piece, 95% more than the cap she promised.

With much public interest in the issue, how much has the total expenditure of Special Advisers increased since May 2015?

There has also been significant attention paid to the value of severance payments awarded to Special Advisers when they leave. What is the total number of severance payments Government has paid out for advisers who have left Downing Street since June 2015?

Would you let us know, as First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Special Advisers you now employ and if they breach the £72,000 pay cap set by the Prime Minister.

Finally, I now understand that No10 will soon appoint a new Director of Communications. The previous appointment was paid £125,000. Can you provide any assurance that salary will not rise any further?

Yours sincerely,

John Trickett.

Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Lord President of the Council

Speaking in response to the report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Inspectorate on the failures in dealing with victims of stalking, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, said:

“This report is deeply troubling. It highlights a series of failings to tackle stalking, which can have serious or even fatal consequences.

“Government has cut the police by over 20,000. It tries to hide behind the claim that crime is falling. But many serious crimes are rising, including crimes of violence.

“Cuts have consequences. Police forces are over-stretched and this leads to pressure to downgrade crimes, or not fully investigate them, as the report highlights. The government should stop cutting core police budgets and give forces the resources they need. Labour has pledged to restore 10,000 police officers when in government.”

Ends

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Andrew Gwynne MP, commenting on the decision to bring in an external taskforce to oversee key services from Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: 

“Despite being a clear admission of failure, this is a half measure that does not go far enough to address the woefully inadequate performance of Kensington and Chelsea council throughout this crisis.

“It is clear that the community has lost trust in their council. Sajid Javid needs to finally show some leadership by bringing in external commissioners – in consultation with residents themselves – to  make sure everyone in the borough is getting the support they need.“

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, commenting on the expiry of the Prime Minister’s pledge to rehouse those who lost their homes as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire, said:

“Theresa May promised those who lost their homes as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire that they would be rehoused within three weeks, but today it’s clear that this promise has not been met. 

“Support for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire is still not good enough. At every stage Ministers have been off the pace – too slow to grasp the scale of the problems people are facing and too slow to act.

“For the Grenfell Tower survivors and for the local community in North Kensington, underlying everything is the question of trust. Ministers must now show that they mean what they say, do what they promise and act urgently to give those affected by this tragic fire the support they need.”

Ends

Notes

Three days after the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower, on 17 June, the Prime Minister said: “I have fixed a deadline of three weeks for everybody affected to be found a home nearby.” https://www.gov.uk/government/news/grenfell-tower-statement-from-the-prime-minister-17-june-2017.

However, figures from the Grenfell Fire Response Team, confirmed by Labour this morning are that of 158 households potentially eligible for rehousing, only 139 offers of temporary accommodation have been made, and of these only 14 have been accepted.

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to a new British Medical Journal report revealing a new wave of NHS postcode rationing, said:

“The Conservative Government’s underfunding and neglect of the health service is causing misery for patients and making it harder to access routine NHS treatments.

“This new BMJ research reveals that thousands more patients are being turned down for treatment every year. Across the country services which were previously easily available are now being rationed because of the Tory funding squeeze.

“Behind every one of these statistics is a patient and their family waiting longer in pain and suffering because of this Government’s scandalous undermining of the NHS.

“Only Labour has a plan to give the NHS the funding it needs so that patients across the country can get quick access to the treatments and medical support that they need.”