Chancellor
Gordon Brown says inflation-busting pay rises in the public sector will not be
tolerated.
Brown
said he wants the massive increases in spending on the public services,
announced in last year’s Budget, to be spent on improving schools and
hospitals, rather than be used for pay hikes.
He
told the Times that millions of soldiers, teachers and civil servants are
likely to get single-figure pay rises – in what is seen as a clear attempt to
stop massive claims in the wake of firefighters’ demand for a 40 per cent rise.
He
told the paper: "We must continue to have discipline in public sector pay.
We will be looking at the reports of the review bodies over the next few weeks.
We are doing this in an atmosphere of relatively low inflation, the lowest for
30 years or more.
"You
will see this reflected in the settlements we make."
