Sunak minister George Freeman says he quit government because he could not afford mortgage hike on £120k salary

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A former minister stated he quit the function because he could not afford his mortgage on a salary of just about £120,000 a 12 months.

George Freeman, who quit as science minister in Rishi Sunak’s November reshuffle, stated he “simply could not afford” his month-to-month funds after they rose from £800 to £2,000.

MPs are paid £86,584 a 12 months, with a further £31,680 for these promoted as ministers of state.

It means Mr Freeman would have been paid £118,264 per 12 months earlier than resigning.

But regardless of the determine making him one of many UK’s highest earners, the Tory MP wrote on his weblog that a pointy enhance in mortgage funds was a part of the explanation he stepped down.

“I was so exhausted, bust and depressed that I was starting to lose the irrepressible spirit of optimism, endeavour, teamwork & progress which are the fundamentals of human achievement,” Mr Freeman stated.

He added: “And because my mortgage rises this month from £800 pcm to £2,000, which I simply couldn’t afford to pay on a ministerial salary.”

Mr Freeman lashed out at what he referred to as “political economy 2.0”, saying Britain is “in danger of making politics something only Hedge Funder Donors, young spin doctors and failed trade unionists can afford to do”.

Quitting his government function will enable the MP, who spent greater than a decade within the life sciences and expertise sectors earlier than getting into parliament, to take on profitable jobs exterior parliament, so long as they’re permitted by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) watchdog.

Interest charges spiked within the UK following Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous so-called mini price range in September 2022.

They have additionally been pushed up by a sequence of Bank of England rate of interest hikes in a bid to manage spiralling inflation.

Signs that inflation is returning to the Bank’s goal and that rates of interest are prone to start falling this 12 months have led to a sequence of lenders providing cheaper mortgages. But these going through renewal this 12 months will nonetheless face paying round £400 a month extra on common than they had been.

Resigning as science minister in November, Mr Freeman stated it’s “time to focus on my health, family wellbeing and life beyond the front bench”.

The Mid Norfolk MP stated he has championed science and expertise since he was elected 13 years in the past, holding 5 ministerial posts beneath 4 prime ministers.

And in his weblog submit on Friday he pledged to make use of the build-up to this 12 months’s basic election to “share and inform the policymakers working on the manifestos across Westminster”.

He stated he was doing so “in the hope that the next government (whoever forms it) will be able to build on our successes and learn from our failings in delivering this vital mission”.

Mr Freeman additionally used an interview within the New Statesman to say it’s “very likely that we’re going to have a Labour government” after the election.