“The ministers who resigned should do the decent thing and pass up their payoffs for the good of the country.”
Daisy Cooper MP has said that last week’s flurry of ministerial resignations could cost the taxpayer £245,487 – and has joined calls for this money to go towards free school meal vouchers.
This huge sum is because resigning ministers are entitled to 25 per cent of the annual salary they were paid in office under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991.
Analysis by the Lib Dems has found the severance payout bill includes £18,860 for Boris Johnson and £16,876 each for Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, whose resignations sparked the Cabinet revolt.
Daisy has now signed an EDM (early day motion) calling on resigning Ministers to forgo their payments to fund 81,829 free school meal vouchers in the summer holidays.
She said: “Conservative infighting and incompetence has already paralysed this country for months, leaving important issues like the cost-of-living emergency going neglected.
“And now, these resignations will actually make hard-hit families’ woes worse. Many are relying on foodbanks already – they don’t need to squeezed by a penny more.
“The ministers who resigned should do the decent thing and pass up their payoffs for the good of the country. It’s unlikely they need the money – but many hungry kids will do over these summer holidays.”