Economic hit from public sector strikes worth it to tame UK inflation, says Hunt

Junior doctors outside Southend University hospital on the third day of four days of industrial action. They are seeking a 35% pay increase, which Jeremy Hunt says is hard to justify. Photograph: Penelope Barritt/Shutterstock

The government is willing to accept short-term damage to the economy from public sector strikes rather than give in to pay demands and risk a longer-term hit from persistently higher inflation, Jeremy Hunt has insisted.

Speaking in Washington, the chancellor said he “completely understood” public anger at the high cost of living but added that the impact of rising prices would be longer lasting and more damaging if ministers acceded to “hard to justify” pay demands.