The cost to the taxpayer of public sector pensions and how much more generous they are than private sectors ones is going to become an increasingly big political issue in the coming years. The deal that Alan Johnson brokered with the public sector unions back in 2005 ducked pretty much all of the tough issues and did little to reduce their huge cost to the taxpayer.
This morning on the Today Programme, Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, was defending public sector pensions by arguing that they are small compensation for the low pay that public sector workers receive. Evan Davis then rather stumped him by asking:
“If it is so bad in the public sector then why don’t you cheer when the government says it is, perhaps, going to privatise the Post Office or to put workers in the private sector? You should be saying great this is our chance to earn a bit more. But I never feel that the public sector unions do cheer when the government says it will put things into the private sector.”
It was a brilliant question and typical of the economic smarts that Davis has brought to the programme. With his ability to ask probing questions but without the hectoring bluster of John Humphrys, Davis is rapidly becoming the best presenter on the show.
P.S. The way that Ed Stourton has been treated really is shoddy.
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