That Rishi Sunak chose to announce his decision to give public sector workers a 5 to 7 per cent pay rise with a press conference tells you everything you need to know. There is no requirement for him to be anywhere near a pay announcement: indeed, it was chief secretary to the Treasury John Glen who made the statement in the Commons. But Sunak clearly thinks there is a big political win here for him in dealing with the ongoing strikes.
Sunak confirmed in his opening statement that ‘we are accepting the headline recommendations of the Pay Review bodies in full but we will not fund them by borrowing more, or increasing your taxes’. It means that teachers will get a 6.5 per cent raise, junior doctors will get 6 per cent and a lump sum of £1,250 each, police and prison officers 7 per cent, and the armed forces between 5 and 6 per cent. And this allowed him to announce ‘another major breakthrough’ in the form of the teaching unions, suspending all their plans to strike immediately.
You can see why the Prime Minister was keen to be as close to the action as possible, when he is normally happy to be detached and offering a delayed commentary on more difficult developments. He said:
It is now clear momentum across our public services is shifting. The vast majority who just want to get on with their life’s calling of serving others are now returning to work. And in that spirit, I want to address those yet to do so. Now that we’ve honoured the independent pay recommendations, I implore you to do the right thing and know when to say yes.
He argued that the government was investing in the NHS and dealing with the pensions issue driving many senior doctors out of work early. So, he asked: ‘How can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action?’
On the funding, argued that ‘it would not be right to increase taxes on everyone to pay some people more, particularly when household budgets are so tight’. Instead, the money will come from government departments finding ‘savings and efficiencies elsewhere’. The teaching unions have been clear that they would continue their strikes if their pay awards were funded by cuts to schools, so how is the government going to manage this? Sunak was insistent that it was ‘not about cuts’ but ‘asking departments to reprioritise’. The NHS has been clear that its productivity targets and the impact of the strike action that has already taken place (and is starting up again from today) means that it would be impossible for the health service to fund the raise from its budget, though the department of health may have to foot the bill from underspends and ‘reprioritising’ from other non-NHS elements of its budget.
You can see why the Prime Minister was keen to be as close to the action as possible
In the Commons, Labour’s Pat McFadden gave the first response from the opposition after Glen had briefed MPs on what was happening. His main complaint was that the plan ‘hasn’t even survived contact with reality’, and he asked about the ‘impact on public services of funding the rises’. Glen reiterated that ‘the decisions we have made today mean no new borrowing, no cuts to the front line, no new taxes, and no negative impact on inflationary pressures’. Sounds so good, it’s a mystery the government didn’t think of it earlier.
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