Public sector pay rises in line with soaring inflation are “unaffordable”, cabinet minister Mark Harper has said, raising the chances of a winter of strikes going ahead.
The transport secretary said on Sunday there “simply isn’t the money” to meet the demands of NHS nurses and other public sector staff, as he also denied blocking a pay deal for rail workers.
Nurses are set to stage their first-ever UK-wide strike before Christmas, as they join transport, postal workers and university workers on the picket lines in disputes over pay and conditions.
“Inflation-matching or inflation-busting pay rises are unaffordable,” Mr Harper told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.
He added: “I think we want to try and give all the workers in the public sector who work very hard decent pay rises, but they can’t be inflation-busting pay rises. There simply isn’t the money to pay for those given the context.”
Mr Harper also rejected claims by RMT union boss Mick Lynch that the government was blocking a deal for rail workers. “I didn’t block anything, and it’s not in my interests to block anything,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
Mr Lynch has reflected on “positive” talks with Mr Harper last week ahead of a fresh round of planned 48-hour train strikes starting 13-14 December, but warned “warm words” are not enough to bring about a resolution.
The transport secretary hinted that the mandate for negotiations in the rail pay dispute could change – saying it was vital for rail operators to get reforms out of any pay rise deal.
“[Rail operators] will have the ability to reach a deal, but we have to have that reform package negotiated, because it’s only that, that throws up the savings. I don’t have a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money to throw at the problem,” said Mr Harper.
Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to strike on 15 and 20 December, the biggest walkouts in the history of the health service – with Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members believed to be asking for a 17 per cent pay boost.
Arguing that it was vital to keep pay increases under control in a bid to tackle inflation, Mr Harper said the economic challenge faced by the UK was “made in Russia”, despite the calamitous mini-Budget which added to public debt levels.
Labour’s Lisa Nandy said the government should be “moving heaven and earth” to avert a winter of strikes, though she would not say whether Keir Starmer’s party backed public sector pay rises in line with inflation.
Asked about Mr Harper’s “unaffordable” comments, she told Sky News: “They’re unaffordable because of 12 years of Tory government and 44 days in which Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng crashed the economy.”
The cabinet minister also rejected a call for a national inquiry into misogyny and racism in the workplace after the damning review into the London Fire Brigade (LFB).
“Frankly they were absolutely appalling,” he said, adding: “That inquiry was triggered by a specific case, of the tragic suicide of someone who took their own life as a result of bullying – I don’t know of any similar examples elsewhere.”
Nazir Afzal, former chief crown prosecutor for the northwest who led the LFB review, said people who work in the NHS, the BBC and police forces have raised “serious concerns” about racism and misogyny.
Pressed on the possibility of more inquiries, Mr Harper said: “I don’t think you want every organisation in the entire country, when there hasn’t been a specific event, to be setting up inquiries all over the place.”
