BBC stars Gary Lineker and Chris Evans would have their salaries slashed by Jeremy Corbyn
2 min read
Top BBC stars like Chris Evans and Gary Lineker would have their salaries slashed by millions of pounds if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister, it has emerged.
A spokesman for the Labour leader confirmed he would introduce a new law which would mean top earners in the public sector could only receive a maximum of 20 times the salary of the worst paid.
Trade union Bectu said at the BBC, the minimum salary is £16,000 a year - meaning no one else at the corporation would be able to earn more than £320,000 a year under a Labour government.
Figures released today showed that Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans is the BBC's best-paid presenter with a salary of between £2.2m and £2.25m, while Match of the Day host Gary Lineker earns between £1.75m and £1.8m.
Other celebrities who would have to take a massive pay cut if Mr Corbyn entered Downing Street are Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine, Huw Edwards and Claudia Winkelman.
They would also face higher tax bills under Labour's commitment to increase levies on anyone earning more than £80,000 a year.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: "We had in our manifesto a very clear position about the necessity of tackling excess pay at the top end, including our commitment to make the top five per cent of earners pay more tax. We would also have an excess pay levy for employers which applies to all salaries above £330,000.
He also confirmed the party remained committed to a legally-binding 20:1 pay ratio for the public sector.
In the Commons, the Prime Minister said the BBC figures - which were released in the corporation's annual report - showed there are some people working in the public sector who are “very well paid”.
A spokesman for Mrs May said she was also concerned that the list of top-earners at the BBC was dominated by men.
He said: "We are very pleased that the BBC have published this information today. It's an important thing that licence fee payers know where their money is going.
"It has thrown up some interesting information with regard to the gender pay gap and we also want to see it tackled. We think that in order for that t happen, this is a very important tool and we would like to see the BBC continue to publish this information."
Labour ex-deputy leader Harriet Harman also took aim at the corporation, saying she was "frothing at the mouth" about the gender pay gap.
She told Sky News: "What will come out of this is the transparency will mean that the self-perpetuating oligarchy of the old boys' network is going to be dead."
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