Britain's business minister says he's sympathetic to the Occupy movement and will consider bringing in legislation to curb CEO salaries.
In an interview that aired Sunday, Business Secretary Vince Cable told the BBC that skyrocketing pay for executives against a backdrop of job and benefit cuts for the average worker "causes a lot of public anger and indignation, and we're seeing some of that spill over into protests in recent weeks."
"I have some sympathy with it," Cable continued.
Cable, a Liberal Democratic MP from west London, was his party's point person on economic issues before becoming a minister last year in Britain's coalition government.
He's been campaigning for months to reform executive pay, which has bounded up by 75 per cent over the last two years for senior executives at Britain's top 100 publicly traded companies, according to research by the firm Income Data Services.
Meanwhile, unemployment hit a 17-year high in the United Kingdom last month, while average wages, after accounting for inflation, are falling.
"A small number of people have done extraordinarily well in the crisis, often undeservedly, and large numbers of other people who played no part in causing the crisis have been hurt by it," Cable told the BBC.
He said shareholders at publicly traded companies need to take the reins in curbing excessive pay packages for executives, but the government would step in if necessary.
“If it does require legislation, of course we’ll introduce it,” he said.
A discussion paper Cable published two months ago floated several ideas for keeping top corporate salaries in check, including having employees sit on companies' remuneration committees.
The global Occupy rallies, which began with protests on Wall Street and have inspired international demonstrations, have touched Britain as well. Hundreds of demonstrators have been camping for weeks outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London to denounce corporate excess and seek economic justice.
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