Labour will support an SNP no confidence motion in Boris Johnson that proposes to dock the prime minister’s pay by over £40,000 “on the basis of his behaviour”.
The motion, which will be debated in the Commons today, says the prime minister should be censured following a torrid few weeks kickstarted by the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal.
Labour sources confirmed to HuffPost UK on Tuesday that it would back the motion.
It accuses the PM of “frequently violating the sixth principle of public life” — that holders of public office should be truthful.
It also hit out at Johnson for seeking to undermine the recommendations of the standards committee, which found Paterson guilty of an “egregious” breach of parliament’s lobbying rules.
The committee recommended a 30-day suspension for the former Cabinet minister after it emerged he had repeatedly lobbied ministers on behalf of two firms that were paying him over £100,000 between them.
The government intitially tried to block the suspension on the grounds that it wanted to reform the procedures that found him guilty.
However, after an intense public backlash, it abandoned its support for Paterson who in turn resigned as an MP.
Speaking about the motion on Tuesday, the SNP’s leader in Westminster Ian Blackford said the motion was more “meaningful” than a “gesture”.
“It isn’t really a motion of no confidence,” he told Times Radio. “We’re asking for something specific and that is the prime minister’s ministerial salary to be docked on the basis of his behaviour.
“We all understand that we’ve got to deal with the Covid pandemic — that’s first and foremost a responsibility that we that we all have — but the fact remains that this is a prime minister that quite frankly has shamed our democracy, he shames parliament.”
Blackford claimed: “This is a man that’s not fit for office.”
The SNP motion also criticised Johnson for ignoring “independent advice” on breaches of the ministerial code, for putting forward proposals it said would “diminish the powers of the Electoral Commission” and for granting peerages to Conservative party donors.
And it said his ministerial salary should be reduced by £41,567 per year — taking it down £115,805.
Johnson claimed a £157,372 salary this year — a combination of the £75,440 he took in relation to his duties as prime minister, and the £81,932 he is entitled to as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
A No10 spokesperson said: “People from across the United Kingdom and Scotland want to see politicians and the public pulling together to focus on the issues that matter to them — like protecting lives, jobs and recovering from the effects of covid-19 on our economy and public services.
“The prime minister is focusing on just that — encouraging people to come forward for their booster jabs when called and driving forward our plans to build back better as we recover from the pandemic.”