Cut bosses' pay to help lower paid, says Andy Burnham

Company bosses should have their pay frozen or cut in order to pay their workers more, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has said.

Speaking to BBC News, he argued that at a time when people were struggling to pay their bills, it was right "to end the culture of high and excessive pay".

He also said there needed to be more "public control" of utility companies.

And he suggested he would consider running for the Labour leadership "one day".

During an earlier interview with Sky News, Mr Burnham said he supported Sir Keir Starmer and was focused on his job as Greater Manchester mayor but that he would not rule out running for prime minister as Labour leader in the future.

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Sir Keir has come under pressure from the left of his party to support nationalising companies that provide essentials such as energy and water.

The TUC - the body which represents trade unions - has argued that privatisation has "failed" and that bringing energy companies into public ownership would reduce bills.

It estimates that nationalisation would cost £2.85bn but compares the figure to the £2.7bn it says has been given to the industry in bailouts.

Other politicians have made similar calls, including Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who said nationalisation of energy companies should be "considered by the UK government and the Green Party who argued it would cut household costs by £2,000 per year.

And former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suggested threatening to temporarily nationalised the companies if they don't cut prices.

However, Sir Keir has rejected the idea, telling Jeremy Vine on Channel 5: "We looked at the cost of that. That would mean using the windfall tax money to pay off shareholders because you can't nationalise for free.

"I asked myself this winter is it the priority to use that money to pay off shareholders or to keep bills down and I took the political choice that every single penny we would be raising would go to reducing bills.

'If you nationalise the energy companies they would still have to buy their energy from the international market so you don't reduce the cost… the idea that if you nationalise you automatically bring the bills down is wrong."

Instead, Sir Keir has proposed keeping bills down by freezing the energy price cap - partly paid for by expanding the windfall tax on oil and gas company profits.

Mr Burnham said it was "a good first step" but more was "going to be needed".

The former minister also accused the two Conservative leadership candidates - Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss - of not giving enough "clarity" about what they would do and said there was "a huge vacuum" at the top of government.

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He urged ministers to negotiate with trade unions to "work out fair pay deals that would get us through this period".

He argued the pay deals could be funded by tackling "the culture of high and excessive pay in the top half of organisations".

"I am very directly talking about pay freezes, even pay cuts for people in the top 50% of organisations, people on hundreds of thousands, so we can give pay increases to people lower down, so their pay is enough to live on."

Also speaking to BBC News, culture minister Matt Warman said the government was in the process of rolling out £37bn to help with rising costs.

He said the package was "significant" but that it was right to let the next prime minister make the decision about what further support should be provided.

He added that the two candidates to lead the Conservative Party had "different visions for how things will be funded" but that there was "an acceptance that more will be done".

The winner of the race to be Conservative leader and replace Boris Johnson as prime minister will be announced on 5 September.

During his interview with Sky News, Mr Burnham also criticised the Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis saying he had heard him "demonising 'greedy rail workers' in his words".

The MP for Stoke-on-Trent North has responded angrily to the claim and demanded an apology from the Greater Manchester mayor.

He said he read out the average salary of a rail worker and compared it to that of a nurse and teacher in an interview in June but denied using the term "greedy".

Mr Gullis has confirmed to the BBC that he is considering legal action.

In response a spokesman for Mr Burnham said Mr Gullis was "good at giving it out but clearly a bit sensitive when the challenge comes back" and that by reading "disputed salary figures" on air and criticising industrial action he was "clearly saying that workers are being too greedy".