A YORK MP is calling for an end to the "ministerial gravy train" which is handing the departing prime minister and other ministers leaving Government "eye-watering pay-offs".

York Central MP Rachael Maskell will present the ‘Former Ministers and Prime Ministers (Abolition of Payments) Bill’ to Parliament today (Wednesday, October 26) in a bid to stop the payments.

Currently ministers can claim a quarter of their ministerial salary when leaving office, even if they have served for a matter of weeks or even days.

Labour MP Ms Maskell said the allowance entitles former Cabinet members to receive £16,876.25, a minister of state £7,920 and a Parliamentary under secretary of state to claim £5,595.75 on departing Government, even if they had only just been appointed.

Such ministers will revert to being backbench MPs, still on significant salaries, or if leaving Parliament would be entitled to the terms all MPs are able to access, said Ms Maskell.

She said Ms Truss is also entitled to £18,860 for just 44 days as Prime Minister, and she will also be entitled to a £115,000 a year allowance to run an office for the rest of her life.

The allowance was introduced in 1991 by the then Prime Minister, John Major, as a parting gift to Margaret Thatcher - the ‘Thatcher Fund’.

Ms Maskell said: “When people cannot afford food for their stomachs or warmth for their homes, it is sickening to see the former prime minister and past ministers help themselves to large pay-offs.

"The churn in ministers over the course of the last few years has been significant, not to mention four prime ministerial resignations since 2016.

"With more than 50 MPs resigning to force Boris Johnson out of office, the cost would have run into £100,000s. Ms Truss’ time in office would have led to similar sums being paid, not least to herself. It is not right that she is entitled to what is essentially a reward for crashing the economy with her mini-budget.

“My bill will put an end to this profligacy and mean that MPs leaving ministerial office will not be able to take this additional payment, nor departing prime ministers being entitled to the ‘Thatcher Fund’. This is the right thing to do, and I trust Government will not delay in implementing the terms of my bill."

The PDCA was set up in 1991 to “assist former Prime Ministers” with Margaret Thatcher being the first beneficiary.

The Government says payments through the PDCA “are made only to meet the actual cost of continuing to fulfill public duties".

It added: “The allowance is not paid to support private or parliamentary duties. The PDCA is in addition to any constituency office which they may maintain as an MP.”