Lib Dem Minister slashes beureaucrats pay
Danny Alexander said his interventions had cut the salaries of 45 new recruits, including £100,000 from the salary of Moya Greene, the Royal Mail chief executive.
The senior Liberal Democrat revealed the figures in Treasury Questions in the Commons when he was pressed on what the Government was doing to tackle high public sector pay alongside efforts targeting private sector executives.
Liberal Democrat Stephen Williams had asked how the Government had used its influence to control pay in the public sector.
Mr Alexander said: "Ministerial salaries were cut by 5 per cent and then frozen for the whole of this Parliament.
"As Chief Secretary I now personally sign off any new pay above £142,000, the equivalent of the Prime Minister.
"This is a vital deterrent to ever higher pay at the top of the public sector."
Mr Alexander said his actions had seen the number of paid over £150,000 dropped by 55 since May last year. He added: "Where applications do come in, I can and do reject them if I think they are too high."
He said that out of 83 cases since May 2010, he had lowered the pay in 45 cases and frozen it in a further 23, saving more than £1 million a year for the taxpayer.
His cuts included "£100,000 cut in the pay for the new chief executive of Royal Mail."