THE SNP have demanded that Chancellor Rishi Sunak use Wednesday’s Budget to U-turn on the Tories’ public sector pay freeze.
SNP MP Neil Gray said the Tories must avoid another “tale of two governments” and follow Scotland’s lead.
Last autumn, in the UK Government’s spending review, Sunak announced that public sector pay would be frozen for one year, except for NHS and health workers.
However, he also said that the 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 would be guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250.
The Tories said they could not justify an across-the-board pay increase for public sector workers as they had to ensure fairness with the private sector.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes announced an across-the-board pay rise for Scottish public sector workers in January.
Forbes said Scotland would deliver a minimum pay increase of three per cent to the lowest earners which she said “represents a significant step on our journey to pay restoration”.
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The Scottish Government policy also promises to deliver an above-inflation headline pay increase of one per cent to all those earning between £25,000 and £80,000 and, to reduce the overall income gap, a capped increase of £800 for those earning above £80,000.
Gray, who represents Airdrie and Shotts, said Westminster’s policy is punishing workers in the middle of an economic crisis and after a decade of real terms pay cuts.
He said: “The pay freeze was a slap in the face for public sector workers and clearly displays the stark contrast between the Westminster and Holyrood governments.
“The Chancellor joined millions of us to clap for our key workers – that will be meaningless if he fails to use the upcoming UK Budget to not just reverse the Tory public sector pay freeze but go beyond that and fully fund a rise in public sector pay – as the Scottish Government has done.
“Public sector workers - many of whom have risked their lives throughout this pandemic to keep the country moving and everyone safe - should be rewarded, but instead many are struggling to put food on the table or pay essential bills.
"Who should be in charge of Scotland’s economic recovery from this virus, a government democratically elected by the people who live and work here, or Boris Johnson’s Tory party?”
He added that figures from the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre show that public sector workers in Scotland will earn more than their equivalents in Tory-run England after the SNP’s tax proposals for 2021/22 take effect.
A spokesperson for the Treasury said: "At the spending review last year the Chancellor announced that we will provide a pay rise to over a million nurses, doctors and others working in the NHS.
“He also guaranteed a pay rise to the 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000.”
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