Fleur Anderson Calls for Reform of Ex-minister Pay-outs

MPs briefly in post benefited from payments totalling nearly £1 million

Fleur Anderson addresses the House during Prime Minister's Questions

February 16, 2024

Putney’s MP has called for an urgent review of ministerial severance payments, after it was revealed that almost £1 million of taxpayer’s money was spent on pay outs to ministers who had often been in post less than a few months.

Reforms proposed by the Labour Party were voted down by the Conservatives meaning that the current rules will remain unchanged going into the general election. It had used an Opposition Day Debate to put forward a motion which would have required the government to set aside Parliamentary time for a Bill to reform the severance rules.

Fleur Anderson, speaking in Parliament this week , said, “It does not seem right that in many cases those large sums of money have been paid out for such a short term of service. That is not what the system was designed to do, so the system must be reformed. It is high time that the system, exposed by the Conservative summer of chaos that resulted in nearly £1 million paid out to a conveyor belt of Tory Ministers, is reviewed.

“To ensure the public get good value for money from their Government Ministers, Labour is making sensible and reasonable proposals today, which should be supported by all Members of the House. Labour will change the rules so that failed Ministers who have been in post for only a matter of weeks are no longer entitled to a quarter of their final top annual salary. Instead, they will receive a quarter of their actual earnings as a Minister over the previous 12 months, minus any period covered by a previous severance entitlement. If they return to a ministerial position after three weeks but within a period equivalent to the number of days of salary they were paid in severance, they must return the corresponding amount of their severance payment. At the moment, that is up to the good will of a Minister who, out of the goodness of their heart, returns the money. The system should not be left like that—it should be clearcut.”

Since 1991, when John Major was the Prime Minister, any individual under the age of 65 who leaves their ministerial job has been entitled to a quarter of their final annual salary in severance pay, no matter how long they have been in post or the circumstances of their departure.
At present, they are only required to repay the money if they return to a new job within three weeks. It was recently revealed that, over the course of 2022/23, a total of £933,086 was handed out in severance payments to 97 different ministers who either quit their roles or got the sack during the year of political chaos which saw three different Prime Ministers in charge in Downing Street.

As a result of the unprecedented turnover in ministers, dozens of Tory MPs were able to claim three months in severance despite serving for only a matter of weeks in their ministerial posts, and a number of others kept their full payouts even after returning to new jobs just a month or two later. Amid the chaos, it was also recently revealed that five former ministers had been handed severance payments worth a total of more than £50,000 by mistake, having been aged over 65 at the time of their departure, including Nadine Dorries and Peter Bone.

Ms Anderson continued, “Labour will also ensure that any Minister who has had to leave their job while they are being investigated for misconduct has their severance suspended, and then cancelled altogether if the allegations are upheld. We should not have to put forward this legislation: the reforms should be obvious and should have been introduced as soon as the system was brought into disrepute by former Members. It should not be up to the Opposition to call out the Government on the failure of the system.

“Labour will go much further, if we have the honour of becoming the next Government. We will introduce an integrity and ethics commission to clean up our politics, because trust in our politics has plummeted to an all-time low in recent years. It is up to us in the Labour party to clean up politics, to restore trust and to show that it is not one rule for them and another for us. We are putting the Government on notice: if they will not clean up our politics, Labour will.”

Labour's Shadow Attorney General, Emily Thornberry said: "Tory MPs had the chance to do the right thing in this debate and fix the rules on ministerial severance payments which their party has brought into disrepute. They actively voted to block Labour's reforms and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. They are all more interested in lining their own pockets than protecting taxpayers' money.

“But Labour remains committed to these reforms, and if we are able to form a majority in Parliament later this year, we will bring back this legislation and ensure the system is changed for good.”