A lawyer-turned-campaigner has given a damning assessment of Philip Hammond’s comments over the public sector pay cap. And he makes points that will surely resonate with everyone affected by the 1% restriction on their pay.
A damning assessment
Peter Stefanovic is becoming well known on social media. He is getting a reputation for producing video shorts that cut through mainstream media bias; ones that tell the viewer the whole story on political and social issues. And in his latest video, he pulls no punches when it comes to the Chancellor’s alleged comments.
Stefanovic said of Hammond:
You praise our public sector workers in times of crisis, and then you kick them in the teeth by voting down a pay rise for them. And your party actually cheers when you do it. It’s beyond hypocrisy… it’s a bloody crisis.
Hammond on the ropes
As The Canary previously reported, five sources [paywall] allege that Hammond said public sector workers are “overpaid”. The Chancellor has so far refused to deny or confirm the rumours, but a source speaking to The Sunday Times alleged that [paywall]:
Philip [Hammond] used a fairly inflammatory phrase. He said they were ‘overpaid’.
That caused some general astonishment. His overall tone was that we shouldn’t give them more cash because they are overpaid. Later in the meeting both Boris Johnson and the PM said we should not say public sector workers are overpaid.
Poverty pay
According to a recent report, the public sector pay cap means workers have seen their wages fall in real terms since 2010. This includes an average pay decrease in real terms of £3 an hour for teachers and £2 an hour for police officers.
It recently looked like the government might vote to lift the public sector pay cap. They then U-turned on the expected U-turn and voted for it to stay in place. And when the vote passed, they cheered. And this latest scandal surrounding Hammond’s comments will only further exacerbate the government’s problem. But the Treasury has denied these claims. A source from the department said [paywall]:
The Chancellor was describing the public sector pension premium. He did not say that public sector workers were overpaid.
Utter disdain
Even if the Chancellor did not say that public sector workers were overpaid, he thinks regardless that these workers get too high a pension. So once again, the Tories have demonstrated their disdain for those who work on the front line of some of our most vital services. As Stefanovic said, the government repeatedly kicks public sector workers in the teeth. But with trade unions like the British Medical Association balloting for industrial action, this time the Tories may have kicked too hard, for too long.
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Featured image via YouTube
