THE Government has pledged to continue monitoring moves aimed at tackling fat cat pay-offs as unions stepped up demands for further action.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said, in the wake of Monday's shareholders' vote at pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), that she believed directors' pay would be linked to performance.

One union official said the Government should bring in a tough law to tackle executive greed and urged ministers not to accept business demands for any measures to be voluntary.

Amicus, which staged a demonstration outside GSK's annual meeting in London before shareholders refused to endorse a pay deal for chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier, said it planned to target other companies following the unprecedented revolt.