Regional Pay

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Rachel Reeves

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I will come on to deal with some of the evidence that backs up his point.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

This is not just a cause for concern in Scotland, Wales and the northern regions of England. There is also deep concern in the south-west, where we have the biggest gap between wages and house affordability. Any regional pay structure is bound to involve a huge transfer of public money from regions such as the south-west to the wealthy south-east, and that is exactly the opposite of what the Government should be doing.

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention. Indeed, a 1% pay reduction for public sector workers in the south-west would cost that region £140 million a year.

If the Government were to achieve their objective of reducing pay to what they say is the equivalent in the private sector, a real-terms cut in pay, year after year for a decade or more, would be needed. It is no wonder, then, that people are worried and are calling on the Government to come clean on what their plans really are. It is no wonder that people think this is a deliberate attack on public sector workers and on the parts of the country that have already been hardest hit by the recession.