ALL IN IT TOGETHER?

Plaid Cymru's Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP has repeated calls for greater responsibility within the financial sector as a report is published showing the bosses of FTSE 100 companies enjoyed an average 12% rise in their take-home pay last year.

Mr Edwards, who has consistently maintained that curbing executive pay and reforming the banking system are key to economic recovery, insists that the Coalition government must shrug off its complacency towards big bonuses and put the interests of the real economy ahead of the City elite.

Responding to the survey conducted by Manifest/MM&K, Mr Edwards said:

"In recent years, the financial sector in Britain has created an unacceptable culture of rewarding failure and neglecting responsibility.

"The Coalition government is also complicit in this negligence. While ordinary people are feeling the squeeze, those earning more than £3,000 a week are enjoying tax cuts introduced by the Chancellor's latest Budget.

"Plaid Cymru have always maintained that big bonuses must curbed if we are to tackle the UK's widening wealth gap - the largest in Europe - brought about by the Coalition's complacency and the previous Labour government's lethargic approach to financial management.

"Only yesterday (Monday), we warned that the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill currently going through Parliament, could become a 'Bad Bosses' Charter' if it limits employee rights, and lacks strength in sections which deal with directors' pay and bonuses.

"Plaid Cymru would look to address the weakness of certain sections of the Bill through introducing a maximum wage and allowing employees' representatives to be included remuneration committees.

"These latest statistics serve as a reminder of who's really 'in it together'. While the majority of the population are dealing with soaring food and fuel prices, the FTSE 100 bosses are benefiting from soaring salaries.

"We should be asking serious questions about what sort of society we want to create as a result of the recession. A return to business as usual for the economic elite favoured by the Labour-Tory tag team is not acceptable.

"The UK Government needs to curb executive pay and reform the banking system so that it works in the interests of the real economy rather than a self-serving cash machine for bankers and others.”