Zoe Gannon

Website Zoe writes on a range of political and economic issues, including banking, taxation and the pharmaceutical industry; she is the head of research and clerk to the High Pay Commission set up by the think tank Compass.

Don’t bank on reform

Much like the royal wedding announcement was a fantastic opportunity to bury any unpopular government decisions, the crisis in Ireland is working a wonder to obscure the fact that the coalition government is kicking legislation on disclosing bankers’ pay firmly into the long grass. Today it was finally made clear that despite internal disagreement on the issue the coalition would not be pursuing legislation to reveal the current level of bankers bonuses.

Will the government drop bankers’ pay legislation?

The Labour government in response to the public outrage on bankers’ pay promised to increase transparency by introducing legislation that would force banks to reveal the pay of their top earners. It wouldn’t name and shame but it would, for example, show how many people were earning more than £1 million or more than £10 million in any one bank.

Public unaware of just how much those at the very top are paid

Today is the official launch of an independent inquiry into high pay. The aptly named High Pay Commission has been established by Compass and is supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. To mark the launch the commission conducted private polling with YouGov which had some remarkable results.

Socialism is Democracy: Labour should accept AV

This week MPs have voted in support of a Bill which would mean that next May the country would get to decide on whether they want to stick with FPTP (first past the post) or switch to AV (Alternative Vote). While this may not have been the choice many of us who support a more proportional system wanted we shouldn’t underestimate its significance.