Regional Pay Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office
Wednesday 20th June 2012

(12 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Alison Seabeck Portrait Alison Seabeck
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No, sit down. You’ve had your opportunity.

There are other historical examples of this policy. In the 1990s, the Conservative Government asked the NHS to look into the subject, but after a year’s work, it could find only a 0.1% variation between the regions. That was not the best way for the NHS to spend its time and money.

Gemma Doyle Portrait Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op)
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Will my hon. Friend give way?

Alison Seabeck Portrait Alison Seabeck
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Yes, of course.

None Portrait Hon. Members
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Oh!

Gemma Doyle Portrait Gemma Doyle
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. Some Members have had longer to speak in the debate than others. Like her, I am outraged by the suggestion that my constituents should be paid less for doing their job than those in other areas. Does she agree that, if nationalist Members were to get their way, they would achieve overnight what the Tories and Lib Dems are seeking, because public sector workers in a separate Scotland would have no guarantees whatever on their wages?