Labour MPs slammed as ‘hypocrites’ for hiding salary promises in job ads while ordering businesses to share them

Labour MPs are attempting to hire staff without listing salaries, despite Andy Burnham ordering businesses to do so, GB News can reveal.

More than a dozen opportunities have been posted online, including from former Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, without stating how much a successful applicant could expect to be paid.

The adverts have been posted on the site Work4MP, some the same day the Prime Minister suggested employers should comply with the new salary-listing requirement before it becomes law.

Instead, the jobs promise hopefuls they will be remunerated “in line with IPSA pay scales” without providing an actual figure.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority oversees how much MPs and their staff are paid, with employees paid through a publicly funded staffing budget.

It sets a permitted salary scale but grants MPs discretion on how much they pay within each band.

Jobs being offered by Labour MPs without a listed salary range from internships, offering young people an entrance into the working world, to communications officers and chiefs of staff.

Ex-Cabinet Minister Liz Kendall is seeking a Parliamentary Assistant and is offering to pay the “lower end” of IPSA pay scales, in a listing posted on Thursday.

Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Danny Beales is seeking a Chief of Staff and also promises to pay “in line with IPSA pay scales”.

Other Labour lawmakers not providing payment information to prospective workers include East Thanet MP Polly Billington, Rossendale and Darwen MP Andy MacNae, Tamworth MP Sarah Edwards, Amber Valley MP Linsey Farnsworth, Macclesfield MP Tim Roca, Thurrock MP Jen Craft, Birmingham Edgbaston MP Preet Gill, and Mid and South Pembrokeshire MP Henry Tufnell.

While the bands set by the ISPA are available online, salaries can vary significantly within each.

According to the guidelines, interns can earn between £24,785 and £28,860, while a Senior Parliamentary Assistant could receive between £36,175 and £56,996.

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Those working in London earn higher wages, but the gap remains.

Other parties, including the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, also advertise roles with the same “in line with IPSA pay scales” promise.

However, listings from some Labour MPs appear to directly contradict Andy Burnham’s desire for employers to be more transparent with potential hires.

“Whether you’re a young person starting out or a parent trying to support your family, you should know what a job pays before spending your time and effort applying for it,” he said on Thursday.

“That’s why we will make it a legal requirement for all employers to say what you pay,” the Prime Minister promised.

Mr Burnham argued the current system was “weighted against the applicant” and that his new law would help "tilt the scales back".

"It can be quite soul destroying for young people these days, applying for jobs when the salary is not listed,” he told the BBC.

Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, blasted the descsion by Labour MPs not to list salaries in job adverts as “undoubtedly hypocritical”.

“If they’re not doing it themselves, of course it’s hypocritical,” he fumed.

Nevertheless, Mr Mullins, who strongly opposes the salary policy, said he would tell the MPs keeping salaries off their job adverts that they were “doing it the right way”.

He argued that forcing employers to list salaries would lead to complications for businesses, including more tribunal disputes.

“It is the worst thing that Labour could do for encouraging employment,” the businessman added.

Conservative Acting Shadow Business Secretary Julia Lopez also disavowed Labour's new employment policy while its own MPs continue to obscure salaries in their job listings.

“At a time when employers are finding it harder and harder to take on staff, Labour have decided to make their lives even more difficult,” she told The People’s Channel.

“It should be up to businesses to decide what information they advertise about job openings, and to decide how to attract the best applicants. As long as they are not being dishonest, misleading or discriminatory, it should not be a matter for the Government.

“Labour should focus on tackling the real causes of rising youth unemployment: their tax hikes and red tape, and their utter inability to cut the welfare bill,” Ms Lopez said.