New MP under fire over pay cap vote
Kerraccusedof betraying public sector workers
Stirling’s MP has been ‘slammed’ for voting against abolition of the public sector pay cap.
Stephen Kerr has hit back, claiming he was backing the Government’s Queen’s Speech and that he supports an independent review being held.
Pay rises for most public sector workers are set by independent pay review bodies, but have effectively been capped at one per cent each year since 2013.
A vote on an amendment to the Queen’s Speech put forward by Labour last week calling for an end to cuts to emergency services and an end to the cap was rejected by MPs by 323 votes to 309, a government majority of 14.
And Stirling North SNP councillor Susan McGill said Mr Kerr was one of those who voted against the amendment.
“Public sector workers in Stirling were sold a raw deal when they were asked to vote Tory in June’s General Election this year,” added Councillor McGill, who has worked for the NHS for 38 years.
“Whilst the SNP Government here in Scotland is working to deliver fair pay to the public sector on limited resources, Stephen Kerr is using his time in the Commons to block fair pay for nurses.
“This is a callous betrayal of the public sector by the Tories. If this amendment had passed, this would have automatically had a knock-on effect to Scotland’s block grant from Westminster, allowing for more resources to pay for public sector pay increase – as the SNP Government has always said it would.
“Our new Tory MP seems to be happy to grant the DUP £1.5 billion in order to keep his failed party in government, but refuses to challenge the fact that Scotland will see no further funding.”