From 51M:
More than 700 civil servants, officials and “quangocrats”earned more than £100,000 last year costing the taxpayer more than £100million, according to official figures.
An analysis by The Daily Telegraph found that the number of officials earning six-figure salaries has risen by nearly a fifth over the past two years.
The number of officials earning more than the Prime Minister’s £142,500 salary has risen by a quarter to 332.
The highest earner was Simon Kirby, the chief executive of High Speed 2, who is paid a salary of £750,000. He has previously said he would provide “value to the taxpayers” by delivering the £56billion project “on time and on budget”.
“It’s clear that the Paymaster General needs to get a grip on the culture of senior civil servants awarding themselves six figure salaries” said Andrew Bridgen MP.
Jim Crawford, a managing director at HS2, is paid a salary £395,000 while 32 other officials at the organisation earn more than £100,000.
A spokesperson for 51m said: “These figures are astonishing given that on HS2 Ltd’s watch the cost of the project has risen from £33bn to £55.7bn before a single shovel has been driven into the ground.
“HS2 represents very poor value for money with a weak business case that relies siignificantly on over-optimistic assumptions with respect to its alleged benefits. It is questionable that phase 1 of the scheme will even achieve a break-even return for for the taxpayer.”