London: UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg pledged to crack down on levels of top executive compensation, saying public-sector workers facing pay cuts should not feel they are doing "all the heavy lifting".
The coalition government is prepared to legislate if necessary in the new year to give shareholders a greater say over boardroom pay in the private sector, Clegg told the British Broadcasting Corp's Marr programme yesterday.
"Just as we have been quite tough on unsustainable and unaffordable things in the public sector, we now need to get tough on irresponsible behaviour of top remuneration of executives in the private sector," he said. "People should be well paid if they succeed. What I abhor is people who get paid bucket loads of cash in difficult times for failing."
Prime Minister David Cameron has urged executives to show restraint on pay at a time when the euro-region debt crisis is sapping growth, household incomes are falling and government spending is being cut in an effort to narrow the budget deficit.
