Today, Rachael Maskell MP will present a Bill to Parliament to bring an end to the Ministerial gravy train, as the departing Prime Minister and other Ministers leaving Government are entitled to eye-watering pay-offs.

The ‘Former Ministers and Prime Ministers (Abolition of Payments) Bill’ will prevent Ministers claiming a quarter of their Ministerial salary when leaving office, even if they have served for a matter of weeks or even days. This allowance entitles former Cabinet Members to receive £16,876.25, a Minister of State £7,920 and a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to claim £5,595.75 on departing Government, even if they had only just been appointed. These Ministers will revert to being backbench MPs, still on significant salaries, or if leaving Parliament would be entitled to the terms all MPs are able to access.

Ms. Truss is also entitled to £18,860 for just 44 days as Prime Minister, and she will also be entitled to a £115,000 a year allowance to run an office for the rest of her life. This allowance was introduced in 1991 by the then Prime Minister, John Major, as a parting gift to Margaret Thatcher; the ‘Thatcher Fund’.

Rachael Maskell MP said:

“When people cannot afford food for their stomachs or warmth for their homes, it is sickening to see the former Prime Minister and past Ministers help themselves to large pay-offs. The churn in Ministers over the ​course of the last few years has been significant, not to mention 4 Prime Ministerial resignations since 2016. With more than 50 MPs resigning to force Boris Johnson out of office, the cost would have run into £100,000s. Ms. Truss’ time in office would have led to similar sums being paid, not least to herself. It is not right that she is entitled to what is essentially a reward for crashing the economy with her mini-budget.

“My Bill will put an end to this profligacy and mean that MPs leaving ​ministerial office will not be able to take this additional payment, nor departing Prime Ministers being entitled to the ‘Thatcher Fund’. This is the right thing to do, and I trust Government will not delay in implementing the terms of my Bill.”

Full title of the bill:

Former Ministers and Prime Ministers (Abolition of Payments) Bill

Bill to prevent certain non-statutory payments being made by the Government to former Prime Ministers; to abolish the payment of grants to persons ceasing to hold ministerial offices; and for connected purposes.