A former minister said he quit the role because he could not afford his mortgage on a salary of almost £120,000 a year.
George Freeman, who quit as science minister in Rishi Sunak’s November reshuffle, said he “simply could not afford” his monthly payments after they rose from £800 to £2,000.
MPs are paid £86,584 a year, with an additional £31,680 for those promoted as ministers of state.
It means Mr Freeman would have been paid £118,264 per year before resigning.
But despite the figure making him one of the UK’s highest earners, the Tory MP wrote on his blog that a sharp increase in mortgage payments was part of the reason 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 said.
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 called “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 role will allow the MP, who spent more than a decade in the life sciences and technology sectors before entering parliament, to take on lucrative jobs outside parliament, as long as they are approved by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) watchdog.
Interest rates spiked in the UK following Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous so-called mini budget in September 2022.
They have also been pushed up by a series of Bank of England interest rate hikes in a bid to control spiralling inflation.
