‘Too early to say’ if NHS workers and teachers will get their recommended pay rise, claims James Murray

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury has refused to say whether a call by the independent pay review bodies to hand teachers and nurses a 5.5 per cent pay rise will be agreed to. Reports claim the Government has only budgeted for a 3 per cent pay rise.

But, speaking on GBNews, James Murray said it was too early to say what Ministers plan to do.

He told Camilla Tominey: “So there’s a process that we need to go through over the next few weeks and what the Chancellor has set out is that she is looking at the Pay Review Bodies’ recommendations.

“And then she’ll come to parliament before the end of July. She will set out her response to them and that will be in the context of public finances and the public spending inheritance that we have in government.

“Because, you know, the public finances are in the worst state since the Second World War. The Chancellor asked Treasury officials in her first days in office to do a thorough assessment of them and that’ll be the context in which she’ll provide an update to Parliament by the end of the month.”

Pressed by Camilla Tominey as to whether it would be difficult for Labour to go against the independent Pay Review bodies recommendation, he responded: “Well, there’s a process as I say and the Chancellor is looking at those pay review body recommendations.

“We know, obviously, that the response to those recommendations will involve a cost. But there is also a cost to not striking a deal because if you don’t strike a deal, you run the risk of more industrial action. There are problems in terms of recruitment and retention. And so there’s a cost to that too, but all of this will be set out in the next couple of weeks before the end of July in parliament. The Chancellor has been very clear that she’s looking at the recommendation, and that’s the process that she will lead over the next couple of weeks.”

Asked if he felt teachers and NHS workers deserved a 5.5 per cent rise he said: “Well, my personal view and that of many of us in parliament is that we highly value the contribution and the work that NHS workers have been doing, the teachers are doing, that police officers are doing across the public sector in terms of the process for deciding our response to the Pay Review bodies recommendations.

“I think it’s not fair for me to say one thing or the other when there’s a process in place. The important thing for me to say is to support that process and this process play out. It’s only a couple of weeks until the Chancellor will make a statement to Parliament.”

Commenting on the financial situation Labour had inherited he added: “I think everyone acknowledged during the election campaign, what a difficult inheritance we would have as a result of decisions and failures by the previous government. And I think what we want to be is honest and upfront about that. So when the Chancellor comes to Parliament at the end of the month, as I mentioned earlier, she will set out the true state of public finances that we’ve inherited.

“And I think it’s really important for us as a new government, to be really honest and transparent about what the state of our public finances are. And to be honest about what tough decisions that will entail, while also setting our plan to get the economy growing, to put us in a better position as a country and make people across Britain better off.”

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