British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday signaled his intention to give shareholders of listed companies a veto on executive pay to rein in excessive salaries and bonuses.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Cameron said it was wrong for executive pay "to keep going up and up and up" when the companies had not been very successful and such awards were "frankly ripping off the shareholders."

The prime minister said he wanted to make changes this year to correct the problem.

The measures under consideration include giving shareholders a veto both on pay packages and on payouts for executives dismissed for poor performance. So far, shareholders' votes on pay deal have not been binding so they have been unable to block large payouts to bosses.

Cameron promised "clear transparency, in terms of the publication of proper pay reports and binding shareholder votes."

He said the measures would not amount to "gimmicks and tokenism," adding that "rewards would be linked to success, not failure" in future.

The legislation could be announced in the Queen's Speech, which is likely to take place in the spring, the prime minister hinted.

Cameron also vowed to work during the year to reduce unemployment, saying the whole government was working to "a growth agenda" for the economy.

According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), chief executives in 87 of the FTSE 100 companies took home an average of 5.1 million pounds (7.9 million U.S. dollars) in basic pay, bonuses, share incentives and pension contributions in 2010-2011.