Former Conservative cabinet minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has criticised the party’s plan to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses on BBC Question Time.
The Tory peer and former party chair criticised the logic behind Rishi Sunak’s decision as she appeared on the broadcaster’s flagship politics show, which this week came from Bradford, arguing it contradicted the crackdown on public sector wages to curb inflation
The PM this week announced that the cap on bankers’ bonuses is to be scrapped, saying it would encourage banks to “invest here and pay taxes here”.
Liz Truss’s chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced plans to axe the cap in last year’s disastrous mini-budget, and the current leadership is now pushing through with it.
To applause from the Question Time audience, Warsi, who served in the cabinet under David Cameron, said: “I find it really shocking ... at a time when the prime minister is saying to public sector workers, we cannot increase your salaries because we are trying to get ... inflation under control, so we can’t put more money in nurses pockets because that will cause inflation, but we can put more money into really rich bankers’ pockets because that won’t affect inflation...”
Her response followed a question from a teacher in the audience, who had suggested scrapping the cap was “an insult to working people struggling in a cost of living crisis”.
Defending the policy on the show, Tory minister Lee Rowley said there are a “broader set” of policies the party had introduced to alleviate the squeeze on household budgets.