Voters have backed calls for a “high pay commission” to stop excessive pay and bonuses damaging the economy.

A new poll by ComRes found 61 per cent of voters in the south east supported proposals to prevent another credit crunch by curbing pay levels.

The campaign, launched by pressure group Compass, is backed by MPs including Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable (Twickenham), Jon Cruddas (Lab Dagenham) and Clive Efford (Lab Eltham).

They are called on the Government to “take decisive action on excessive pay at the top when it has had such a damaging and corrosive effect on the real economy and wider society.”

A high pay commission would consider taxing bonuses earned by bankers, and setting a limit on how much the top earners in a business could receive compared to the lowest paid.

The Compass statement says: “We need a 'High Pay Commission' to launch a wide-ranging review of pay at the top. It should consider proposals to restrict excessive remuneration such as maximum wage ratios and bonus taxation to provide the just society and sustainable economy we all want.”

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, has ruled out creating a commission, although he also said in an interview last week that he was willing to consider legislating to curb City bonuses.

The new ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday found that a majority of voters supporting all parties backed the idea.

Nationally, 66 per cent of Conservative voters backed the idea, as well as 67 per cent of Labour voters and 69 per cent of Lib Dem voters.

Findings from the same poll suggested the recent row over the NHS, and Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan’s criticism of the health service, had not damaged the Tories.

Asked whether the NHS was safer under Labour than the Conservatives, just 39 per cent of voters agreed, and 47 per cent disagreed.

The poll put the Tories in 41 per cent of the vote, with Labour on 24 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 18 per cent.

This could give the Conservatives a majority of 124 if the results were repeated in a general election, according to ComRes.

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