Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Bill

Lord Barber of Ainsdale Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & Report stage & 3rd reading
Tuesday 14th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Barber of Ainsdale (Lab)]

My Lords, this House is often confronted by issues of great complexity, but happily today we are dealing with a rather straightforward single issue on which I hope we will be united.

Like others, I am a relative newcomer to this place. Since my arrival, I have come to understand a little the range of demands placed on Front-Benchers on all sides of the Chamber, but particularly on government Ministers. The demands placed on Ministers in the Chamber are considerable: being required to respond to questions from noble Lords on aspects of every policy covered by the Minister’s department.

The challenge of steering a major Bill through this House is enormous, requiring a mastery of detail and, incidentally, endless patience and bottomless stamina. I have recognised that the courtesies and conventions of this House also require many hours of patient engagement outside the Chamber with noble Lords who wish to pursue a particular interest in a Bill or some other aspect of public policy handled by the department concerned.

I recognise of course that for a Minister there are countless other commitments to be met outside the duties in this House. I recall asking my noble friend Lord Collins of Highbury on one occasion how he had enjoyed a recess, which I had certainly appreciated when it arrived. He explained that he had spent the entire time on ministerial visits to five or six capital cities in Africa. No rest for the wicked.

For too long, as the party opposite has testified so compellingly after their long period in office, the ministerial responsibilities in this House have been met only by persuading some good colleagues to accept all those responsibilities without receiving any remuneration. This has been wrong and unfair. The noble Lord, Lord True, talked about a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. I could similarly refer to receiving the rate for the job.

Over the years, I have found myself involved in many complicated negotiations about pay and reward. Sometimes I have been asked to defend robustly ambitious pay claims that have been lodged. But this is one occasion where I find no difficulty in supporting the pay claim that this Bill deals with. When the starting point is zero, the only way is up.

This is about simple justice, but it is also about ensuring that people of talent, dedication and a strong sense of public service who have no supplementary private means are not deterred from accepting a call to office by the denial of a fair and reasonable salary. The Bill seems to be long overdue and I strongly support it.