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Moves giving shareholders the power to tackle bosses eye-watering pay packets have "flopped", research suggests today.

The High Pay Centre think tank says that 2014 and 2018 every single FTSE 100 company pay policy put to an annual meeting was approved by shareholders.

The study found that of more than 700 pay-related resolutions voted on at AGMs over the same period, the average level of shareholder dissent was just 8.8%.

Analysts said its findings come despite average levels of chief executive pay hitting £3.9 million in 2017 - an annual increase of 11%, and about 137 times the annual salary of a typical UK worker.

Director Luke Hildyard said: "People don't want to live in a society with such huge divides between those at the top and everybody else.

"There are big problems with the business culture in the UK and putting shareholders in charge of the system has failed.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

"We now need to be much bolder about giving workers representation on company boards and ensuring that when companies do well, all staff get a share of the profits."

The 2013 Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act gave shareholders a binding vote on a company's executive pay policy at least once every three years at the AGM.

Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said: "Today's findings sadly tell us what we already know, that Tory policies have failed to tackle excessive executive pay in some businesses which is contributing to rampant inequality.

"Many businesses do work hard to ensure that success is shared fairly across the workforce, however it is clear that more must be done at a Government level to change the corporate culture existing in some firms, a culture which many workers would find immoral."