Labour launch Commons bid to slash Chris Grayling’s pay amid rail fiasco
2 min read
Labour will today launch a motion which could see Chris Grayling’s salary docked, in an effective vote of confidence in his ability as Transport Secretary.
The use of a censure motion against Mr Grayling would see his pay fall by £2,400 - the cost of an annual season ticket in his constituency - over his handling of the East Coast Main Line.
The Government was last week forced to take the failing franchise back into public ownership and will run the service until a new public-private partnership can be appointed in 2020.
The motion is an infrequently used but established parliamentary device that seeks to test whether the House of Commons supports a minister in their role.
The Commons has in the past called for a minister's salary to be reduced by a nominal sum "as an expression of its dissatisfaction with the conduct of a minister or their handling of a particular policy".
The Government will face the added pressure of lacking a majority however, meaning Mr Grayling's hopes of the motion being defeated are not certain.
Labour's motion proposes: “That this House censures the secretary of state for transport for his handling of the East Coast franchise and his proposal to re-privatise the route rather than operate it as a public sector operation; and believes the government should reduce his ministerial salary by £2,400 per year.”
Following Mr Grayling’s statement on the East Coast to MPs last week, Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said blasted the Government’s handling of the service and renewed Labour’s call for the railways to be permanently re-nationalised.
"We've had reform, reform and reform. We’ve had bailout after bailout. Rail companies win, taxpayers lose,” he said.
"There’s a definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results. This is the situation we find ourselves in today."
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