Public sector pay demands as austerity ‘eased’
TEACHERS, nurses, police officers and other public sector workers are demanding a pay rise after Theresa May hinted that she would ease austerity.
Mrs May said in her Queen’s speech that the Government will “reflect on the message voters sent” in the wake of the Conservative’s disastrous performance during the general election.
However the Government added that it must “always remember that we have to balance the books to eliminate the deficit” and ensure that future generations “do not have to pay when we fail to live within our means”.
It came after Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, admitted that people are “weary” of austerity after “seven years of hard slog” as he indicated that the Government is prepared to borrow more to invest.
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, yesterday suggested that he believes that public sector workers deserve a pay rise. He told Sky News: “I am in favour of making sure that people are paid well. We whacked up the living wage. We are doing our best to increase pay all round but you have got to operate within the constraints we have.
“People do want to see a pay rise. We have got to look at pay levels within the context of the overall public sector wage bill. The way to do that is to have reform but also have a strong, dynamic economy to help fund these services.”
Earlier this week trade unions representing 1.3million nurses, doctors and health professionals wrote to Mrs May asking her to end the long-standing 1per cent cap on public sector pay rises.
They warned that the policy is causing recruitment problems and putting public safety at risk.
“By your own admission, austerity, and a lack of investment in the public sector, was a significant factor in the general election result,” the letter said.
“Many have said that the pay freeze in the public sector was in part to blame for your failure to secure a parliamentary majority.”
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, repeatedly highlighted concerns about austerity during the general election. He said yesterday: “Seven years of Conservative rule has left wages falling, inflation
‘We are doing our best to raise pay all round but you have got to operate within the constraints we have’
rising, the pound falling, personal debt rising and the economy slowing. By no stretch of the imagination could any of that be described as strong or stable.”
Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told the Financial Times that the Government does have the means to ease austerity.
“There is a world in which you don’t make much progress [on reducing borrowing] in the next few years and put it off to the next parliament,” he said. “[Mr Hammond] risks credibility but it wouldn’t be completely implausible to slow down on [borrowing reduction] over the next three to four years.”