An SNP proposal would target so-called fat cat bosses with a legal mechanism to control wages and bonuses.

The proposal, to be debated at the party conference in Aberdeen this week, involves a wage ratio that would limit executives’ pay depending on the earnings of their lowest-paid employees.

As an example, a maximum pay ratio of 20:1 in the public sector and for companies bidding for public contracts would mean that if the lowest-paid worker earns £10 an hour, the highest-paid person on the payroll would get no more than £200 an hour.

The idea mirrors UK Labour Party policy and follows an analysis by the Equality Trust last year, which said FTSE 100 chief executives earn an average of £5.3m a year, 386 times