As MPs have seen their salaries rise by 30% since 2010
The Prime Minster has come under fire after saying workers should be given pay rises which are focused on ‘rewarding productivity’.
Rishi Sunak’s comments in an ITV interview on Wednesday evening sparked a backlash as he suggested the ‘general rule’ for employers offering pay rises should be based on their workers’ productivity levels.
Economists and public sector workers have blasted his remark, with many asking the PM to justify the large rise in MPs salaries over the last 10 years, if productivity was the rule.
When asked whether he would like to see employers showing more moderation when it comes to pay, Sunak said it was, ‘not for the government to intervene in pay decisions between companies and their employees’.
Before he added: “As a general rule we need pay rises that over time are sustainable, and that means pay rises that are focused on rewarding productivity increases.”
This seems a slap in the face to all the public-sector workers who were forced to take valuable days off for strike action over the past year when the government refused to give them a pay rise, including those who worked throughout the pandemic.
How productive must striking doctors in England prove themselves to be in order to get an offer that will come close to restoring their pay? Having seen their pay drop by 25% since 2010.
This is in comparison to the 30% rise in MPs salaries since 2010, which now sits at £86,584 a year. Many members of the public have questioned how this is justified, both in comparison to doctors pay cuts and given the Conservative government’s performance in office over the past decade.
As one X user put it: “So MPs got a pay rise because? Was that due to the productivity of taking second jobs, not turning up to work for over a year like Dorries?”
Whilst one NHS doctor wrote: “Pay rises should be a ‘reward for productivity’, that’s fine. RESTORE my pay to 2008 levels then we can talk about the 20% increase in productivity in radiology and you can give a pay RISE for that too!”
Economist Richard Murphy wrote of Sunak’s comment: “What a load of nonsense…..the man is utterly economically illiterate. Has he not heard of inflation?”
(Photo credit: ITV News / Screenshot)
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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