Cabinet’s loose talk of pay rises does Jeremy Corbyn’s work for him

SIR – I am disappointed by Cabinet members talking about abolishing the public-sector pay cap so soon after voting the idea down in Parliament.

What was the point of the Conservative Party burning even more of their dwindling political capital with the DUP deal to keep Corbyn out of government if they’re only going to implement all his policies anyway?

This sort of talk doesn’t earn Tories any favours, it only reinforces the notion that the swaggering Mr Corbyn is a prime minister in waiting.

The supine cowardice of the Conservative front bench in the last few weeks ignores a huge appetite for Conservative policy. Despite the grotesque incompetence of the election campaign, the Conservative vote still increased by six per cent.

It is not the time meekly to do Mr Corbyn’s work for him, but to have the courage of Conservative convictions. Robert Frazer

Salford, Lancashire SIR – Surely the cap on the publicsector salaries should be discussed in Cabinet, not on the BBC’S Today programme. Jane Bunner

Chipstead, Surrey

SIR – The Government is correct in saying that we should get the deficit down, but it is not explaining why we must do so in terms which the public can understand.

Lots of people do not understand the difference between the national debt and the annual deficit. Few I talk to understand that the national debt is climbing past £1.7trillion. This costs us somewhere approaching £50billion a year in interest payments.

Colonel David O’gorman (ret’d) Hindhead, Surrey

SIR – Juliet Samuel (Comment, July 3) writes persuasively about wage stagnation.

A point that needs making, however, is that many public-sector employees are on a “wage spine” which guarantees them an annual increment. This is, of course, not so in the private sector or, indeed, when the public sector worker reaches the top of the “spine” – as I discovered in my later years as a teacher. Christopher Pratt

Dorking, Surrey

SIR – If the Government is considering both lifting the cap on public-sector pay and increasing taxes, (Leading article, July 3), then it will be giving to civil servants with one hand while taking it back with the other.

It is only a question of whether the salary gain will be greater than the tax loss. If I were a betting man, looking at the current occupant of 11 Downing Street, I know which my money would be on. Simon Baumgartner

Hampton, Middlesex

SIR – How has the pay of MPS risen in recent years compared with that of other public-sector workers? Geoffrey Hodgson

Leeds, West Yorkshire