Calls for Stoke-on-Trent MP Jonathan Gullis to refuse £5k severance pay for 50 days as minister

Councillors are calling for an MP who was sacked as a minister after just 50 days to refuse his £5,000 severance pay. Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis was sacked as school standards minister by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, less than two months after being appointed by ex-PM Liz Truss.

As a former Under Secretary of State, Mr Gullis would be entitled to a quarter of his ministerial salary – £22,375 – as a severance payment, which would equate to £5,593. But members of the Labour group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council have written to Mr Gullis, saying that given his brief tenure as a minster, along with the the current cost of living crisis facing many of his constituents, he should forgo this payment, or at least donate the money to ‘local good causes’.

The letter, signed by group leader Jane Ashworth and councillor David Williams, states: “Political turmoil in the Conservative Party has resulted in three prime ministers in the last few months. In one of the numerous reshuffles, you, yourself, rose to junior minister level in the DFE.

READ: Stoke-on-Trent MP Gullis sacked as education minister after just 50 days

“As a result of this roundabout, taxpayers have to find £700,000 to pay ‘severance payments’ to Conservative MPs. We understand a payment of around £5000 will be made to you personally because you held the position of Under-Secretary of State for School Standards – you held it for less than fifty days.

“At a time when residents in our city are hit by the cost of living crisis – the result of the catastrophic mini-budget introduced by your government in late September – we feel such payments are unjustifiable.”

The letter goes on to say that public sector workers in Stoke-on-Trent would not receive anything in severance pay under similar circumstances.

Mr Gullis, who worked as a teacher before being elected in 2019, was appointed a minister after he supported Ms Truss’s successful leadership campaign in the summer. Following her resignation, he backed Boris Johnson’s bid to return to No 10, before switching to Mr Sunak after the former PM withdrew from the contest. He subsequently lost his ministerial job in Mr Sunak’s government reshuffle.

Mr Williams said: “During a cost of living crisis which is adversely affecting so many hard-working Stoke residents as a result of the recent catastrophic ‘mini-budget’, it cannot be right that taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for the political turmoil caused by the relentless roundabout of reshuffles over recent months.”

Mr Truss, the shortest serving Prime Minister in history, will be entitled to a severance payment of £18,860, along with an allowance of £115,000 a year.

Mr Gullis has been approached for a comment.

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