Pay is finally rising faster than prices. But this won’t save the Tories

‘Chancellors prefer to raise taxes in the first budget after an election than take unpopular decisions shortly before polling day. This government has done the opposite.’ Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

It’s been a while, but for the first time in two years pay is rising faster than prices. After being squeezed hard by the highest inflation in 40 years, living standards are increasing once more. For Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, this is welcome. It has been a tough year for the prime minister and the chancellor since the end of Liz Truss’s ill-starred premiership, but the idea that the Tories are about to be rewarded for their stewardship of the economy is for the birds.

Governments that are re-elected tend to have certain things going for them. One is that voters are better off at the end of a parliament than they were at the start, and that will certainly not be the case between 2019 and 2024.