SNP MP Mhairi Black has hit out at the “utterly shameful” treatment of Downing Street cleaners and security guards revealed by the Sue Gray report into partygate.
Amid growing fury over the revelations, Black told the Sunday National that if Boris Johnson refused to resign, then Tory MPs should remove him from office.
“The reported treatment of Downing Street staff and security by Tory government staffers is utterly shameful and it speaks to the toxic, entitled and arrogant culture under Boris Johnson’s watch,” said Black.
“While staff worked through extremely tough times, Johnson and his Tory colleagues looked down on them and treated them with contempt.
“The reality is that Boris Johnson repeatedly broke the rules and lied to the public and to Parliament. If he refuses to do the right thing and resign, then it’s on Tory MPs to finally step up and remove him from office.”
Her comments follow a demonstration against the Tory Government’s “culture of disrespect” towards low paid workers this weekend.
Protestors gathered outside No 10 in a demonstration organised by United Voices of the World (UVW), a union which represents cleaners and security guards in government buildings, Not a single Government department in Whitehall, including No 10, has signed up to the real Living Wage commitment, despite Johnson claiming to be a Living Wage champion.
In 2019, on his first day as Prime Minister when asked if he agreed “every single, entry-level, Whitehall cleaner be paid a London living wage”, he answered: “I have to say – the answer is yes. I was very proud that when I was running London, we massively expanded the living wage, and we made sure that it was paid not just by the GLA [Greater London Authority] bodies, but by their contractors as well. And that is what we should be doing.”
Yet the Tory Government has not signed up to the real Living Wage commitment unlike the Scottish and Welsh Governments. The real Living Wage is voluntarily paid by over 10,000 UK businesses who believe their staff deserve a wage which meets everyday needs like the weekly shop. The real Living Wage is currently £9.90 across the UK and £11.05 in London, as opposed to the UK Government’s National Living Wage which is £9.50 for people over 23 and £9.18 for those under the age of 23.
One of the workers protesting outside Downing Street this weekend is Florencio Hortago, a cleaner at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) who said cleaners were “disrespected on a daily basis”.
“We are on poverty wages, barely paid pennies above the minimum wage,” said Hortago. “I have three jobs. I have just finished working a 12+ hour overnight shift cleaning three different buildings. I have been working at the MoJ for 18 years and I still don’t have full sick pay.
“When we asked for masks, they said ‘no’. We, the MoJ cleaners with the help of UVW, fought against this and managed to get the MoJ to cover our Covid-19 related absences but we are still fighting to get full pay sick pay.”
In compiling her report, Gray said she was made aware of “multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff”.
“This was unacceptable,” she said.
No 10 was approached for comment.
