Rishi Sunak today refused to back the Bank of England‘s plea for workers to shun big pay rises despite soaring inflation.
The Chancellor said it was ‘not the government’s role’ to get involved in negotiations between companies and employees.
The thinly-veiled rebuke to Bank chief Andrew Bailey – who last week urged ‘restraint’ on salary demands to avoid fuelling the spiral in prices – came as it emerged the number of public sector staff earning more than £150,000 has increased by 13 per cent in a year.
The Cabinet Office admitted they had understated the figure by forgetting to add another 24 NHS workers. There were 623 ‘high earners’ as of September, up from 552 in 2020.
In an interview as official data showed the economy went into reverse in December due to Omicron, Mr Sunak distanced himself from Mr Bailey’s stance.
‘I don’t think it’s the government’s role to get involved in conversations between private businesses and their employees about their wages,’ he told Sky News.
‘I just don’t think that’s what a government in this day and age should be doing.’
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said it was ‘not the government’s role’ to get involved in negotiations between companies and employees
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey last week urged ‘restraint’ on salary demands to avoid fuelling the spiral in prices
In an interview as official data showed the economy went into reverse in December due to Omicron
The Cabinet Office list of £150,000-plus earners released last week again showed HS2 and Network Rail again dominating.
The government argued that some of the increase was down to organisational changes.
HS2 chief Mark Thurston kept hold of the top slot, with a total remuneration between £620,000 and £625,000.
That is around four times the salary of Prime Minister Boris Johnson – although it has stayed the same for the last couple of years.
Chief executive Andrew Haines was second with a package of up to £590,000.
But the Cabinet Office quietly updated the list last night, adding a note that stated: ‘The Department of Health and Social Care has identified an administrative error in the data it submitted for NHS England and NHS Improvement, resulting in 24 people being left off the list whose salary details should have been published. This has now been corrected.’
Mr Bailey’s controversial suggestion that workers should show restraint when asking for wage increases was met with fierce criticism by No 10 and by unions.
The governor, whose total pay packet came to £575,538 last year, told the BBC: ‘We are looking, I think, to see quite clear restraint in the bargaining process because otherwise it will get out of control.
‘It’s not at the moment but it will do. I’m not saying nobody gets a pay rise, don’t get me wrong, but I think what I’m saying is we do need to see restraint in pay bargaining otherwise it will get out of control.’
He was slapped down by Downing Street, with the PM’s spokesman saying it is not for the authorities to dictate how private companies should pay their workers.
However, Treasury minister Simon Clarke insisted earlier this week that the government will ensure there is ‘restraint’ in the wider public sector.
HS2 chief Mark Thurston (right) kept hold of the top slot in the high earners list, with a total remuneration between £620,000 and £625,000. Chief executive Andrew Haines (left) was second with a package of up to £590,000
He told ITV’s Peston programme: ‘I do think a wider message of general restraint is a very important one. It’s one we will apply in the public sector.
‘We have to be conscious of inflation as a risk.’
The parliamentary watchdog is mulling a 2.7 per cent rise for MPs from April which would take politicians’ salaries above £84,000.
Peers could also see their tax-free daily ‘attendance allowance’ increase by the same proportion, to £332.
But a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll for MailOnline found 64 per cent are against the increase going ahead in April – while just 16 per cent back it.
Downing Street has urged ‘restraint’ on MPs’ pay this year, while Keir Starmer has called for a freeze.