For a High Pay Commission

100 leading progressive figures from across the centre-left, civil society and from all corners of the UK call on the government to establish a High Pay Commission to curb excessive pay. The campaign statement reads:

"The crisis we find ourselves in is one significantly caused by greed. The salaries of those at the top raced away while the median wage stagnated. Inequality grew, and an economic crisis ensued. The unjust rewards of a few hundred 'masters of the universe' exacerbated the risks we were all exposed to many times over. Banking and executive remuneration packages have reached excessive levels. We believe now is the time for government to take decisive action.

The facts speak loud and clear: an employee working a 40 hour week earning the minimum wage would have to work for around 226 years to receive the same remuneration as a FTSE 100 CEO does in just one year.

Remuneration and performance pay cycles are too short; rewards for failure are too great, to the detriment of the long term future of these companies and the wider economy. The government must now take decisive action on excessive pay at the top when it has had such a damaging and corrosive effect on the real economy and wider society.

In 1997 a ‘Low Pay Commission' was set up to advise on the implementation of the Minimum Wage - a policy which has ensured greater fairness and economic stability. We need a 'High Pay Commission' to launch a wide-ranging review of pay at the top. It should consider proposals to restrict excessive remuneration such as maximum wage ratios and bonus taxation to provide the just society and sustainable economy we all want.

Furthermore, we also need the government to take the moral lead by setting reasonable pay structures within our public bodies, for public procurement contracts and last but not least - within our publicly owned banks.

We therefore urge the government to create a High Pay Commission to come up with concrete solutions and instigate the real change that will ensure a more sustainable, equal and secure economic future for all."