EQUAL PAY FLOP VINCE
BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable has been accused of ignoring his own party’s policy on backing equal pay for women.
Now Labour’s Shadow Equalities minister Gloria De Piero is demanding he honours the Lib Dem commitment to transparency on pay discrimination.
In December MPs voted overwhelmingly to force large companies to publish their gender pay gap after shock figures revealed that for every £1 a male worker gets, women are paid on average just 81p.
In a letter to the Business Secretary Ms De Piero said: “It is now Lib Dem policy to implement pay transparency. This falls within your remit.” The member for Ashfield, Notts, is also mobilising other Labour MPs and election candidates to write similar letters to Mr Cable demanding action.
Labour’s 2010 Equality Act required firms with more than 250 staff to publish their pay scales. But when David Cameron became Prime Minister he ignored the regulation, arguing that a voluntary approach would achieve the same results.
Since then only five companies have been transparent about what they pay male and female staff.
The Lib Dems blamed the Tories for blocking their plans for transparency on pay scales. A party spokesman said: “We have consistently made the case to implement these requirements.”