MPs back docking Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng £6,000 of their ministerial pay-offs over disastrous mini-Budget – but Government insists it will IGNORE Commons motion
- MPs pass motion calling for Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng to lose £6k of pay-outs
- Commons backs Labour call for ex-PM and former chancellor to lose the cash
- Opposition MPs bid to censure pair over their ‘mismanagement of the economy’
MPs today passed a motion calling for ex-prime minister Liz Truss and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to lose at least £6,000 of their severance payments.
The House of Commons backed a Labour call for the pair to lose the cash due to their ‘mismanagement of the economy while in office’.
Ms Truss’s spell as PM spectacularly fell apart after just 44 days in the wake of her and Mr Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget in September.
Their ambition for £45billion worth of unfunded tax cuts spooked financial markets and exacerbated economic turmoil in Britain.
In a Commons motion today, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged MPs to ‘censure’ Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng for their actions.
He claimed the pair’s policies – which were swiftly junked – had ‘resulted in an average increase of £500 per month in mortgage payments for families across the UK’.
The Labour motion demanded Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng, if they have not already done so, should ‘waive at least £6,000 of their ministerial severance payments’.
When she resigned as PM last month, Ms Truss became entitled to one-quarter of her annual salary in severance pay.
This put her in line for an £18,860 pay-out from her historically short spell in No10.
MPs today passed a motion calling for ex-prime minister Liz Truss and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to lose at least £6,000 of their severance payments
Ms Truss’s spell as PM spectacularly fell apart after just 44 days in the wake of her and Mr Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget in September
Tory backbencher apologises after he tells Labour MPs to ‘shut up’ in Commons
Labour’s frontbench – including Paula Barker, Sarah Owen and Lisa Nandy – reacted with shock
A Conservative MP was forced to apologise today after he suggested a group Labour MPs should ‘shut up’.
Sedgefield MP Paul Howell’s remark in the House of Commons came as he spoke against Labour’s proposal that Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng should not take some of the severance pay from their time as PM and chancellor.
In response to Labour MPs asking questions as he continued to speak, Mr Howell said: ‘You have chirped and talked – do you want to hear or do you want to shut up?’
He immediately apologised as those on Labour’s front bench – including Sarah Owen, Lisa Nandy and Paula Barker – audibly gasped.
Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans accepted Mr Howell’s apology and reminded MPs: ‘This isn’t a chat. This is a debate.’
Mr Kwarteng, who had previously been sacked by Ms Truss in her failed attempt to cling on as PM, became entitled to a £16,876 pay-out when he departed as chancellor.
The motion calling for Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng to forgo part of those payments was passed by the Commons this afternoon without a formal vote.
This was because Tory MPs chose not to contest the motion in a division.
Opposition Day motions such as the one tabled by Labour this afternoon are not binding.
And, although past governments always tried to vote them down, recent Tory administrations have preferred MPs to abstain in these votes and ignore them.
In today’s debate on the motion calling for Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng to be censured, Labour shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs the severance payments due to the former PM and ex-chancellor were ‘obscene’.
‘That is more than many of my constituents earn in an entire year and they would have some brass neck to pocket that much for a job so atrociously done,’ Ms Nandy told the Commons.
But housing minister Lucy Frazer told MPs the Government did not regard it ‘appropriate’ to make arbitrary demands of individuals in relation to their entitlements as it is an ‘entirely discretionary’ matter for those concerned.
She pointed out both Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng had served as ministers ‘for a considerable amount of time before they were made prime minister and chancellor… and they therefore have a statutory entitlement’.
‘That’s not to say ministers are not able to waive such payments,’ Ms Frazer added.
‘That is not a matter for the Government, it is entirely discretionary matter for individuals concerned.
‘And the Government doesn’t regard it as appropriate to make arbitrary demands of individuals in relation to their entitlements.’