Register of boardroom excess shut down amid drive to cut red tape

UK-listed companies will be able to bury fat-cat pay controversies for the first time in eight years, a thinktank has said, after the Labour government shut down a public tracker meant to curb "abuses and excess in the boardroom".

- Kalyeena Makortoff

The “public register”, launched under the Conservative prime minister Theresa May in 2017, named and shamed companies hit by shareholder revolts at their annual general meetings (AGMs). That included rebellions over issues such as excessive bonuses or salary increases for top-earning bosses.

However, the Treasury - under the chancellor, Rachel Reeves - instructed the Investment Association (IA) to shut down the register as part of a wider “regulation action plan” to promote economic growth by cutting red tape.

It comes amid a lobbying campaign by firms including the London Stock Exchange, whose bosses claim bad publicity around executive pay is harming the City’s competitiveness and deterring UK listings.

The High Pay Centre (HPC) think-tank says shutting down the public register will harm transparency and enable firms on the FTSE All-Share index to dismiss investors' concerns.