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Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nThe chancellor and shadow chancellor gave interviews on Tuesday morning, the day after Rachel Reeves blamed the previous Conservative government for leaving a \u00a322bn shortfall in the public finances. <\/p>\n
They criticised each other and made a series of claims.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve looked at some of them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
‘I think it’s inconceivable that the pressures on public finances weren’t shared’ – Jeremy Hunt<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\nThe shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt has spoken repeatedly about how the chancellor should have known about the state of the public finances.<\/p>\n
He says that’s because she had access to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) judgements from the time of the March Budget and was also entitled to ask questions to the Treasury’s most senior civil servant.<\/p>\n
“Those public finances were audited by the OBR just 10 weeks before the election was called,” Mr Hunt told MPs on Monday.<\/p>\n
But the head of the OBR wrote a letter on Tuesday<\/a> saying that he had only been made aware of some of the pressures last week.<\/p>\nHe’s so worried about it that he has set up a review to assess the information provided to the OBR by the Treasury ahead of the Budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt would be almost unprecedented to reject the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies\u201d Rachel Reeves<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\nDefending her decision to accept the pay review bodies\u2019 recommendations on pay rises for public sector workers, Rachel Reeves told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that it would be \u201calmost unprecedented\u201d to reject them.<\/p>\n
Pay review bodies (PRBs) make recommendations on pay for public-sector workers such as teachers, nurses, doctors, police officers and members of the armed forces. <\/p>\n
They take evidence from relevant government departments, as well as unions and expert organisations, before they say how pay should change each year. <\/p>\n
There are, however, government-set constraints that the PRBs have to take into consideration when making their recommendations.<\/p>\n
It is true that the government usually accepts the recommendations (although they are not legally binding) but it is not that unusual for the government to reject some of the recommendations.<\/p>\n
For example, Jeremy Hunt when he was health secretary, rejected the \u00a02014 \u00a0PRB\u00a0 recommendation for a pay rise of 1% for all doctors and dentists<\/a>. <\/p>\nThere are other recent examples \u2013 in 2018 and 2022 – when the government rejected certain parts of some of the recommendations, according to the independent Institute for Government think tank<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n‘She finds 22% – 10 times inflation – to pay junior doctors – nearly three times inflation for every other public sector worker’ – Jeremy Hunt<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\nThe offer that the British Medical Association is putting to its members is worth about 22%, but that is over two years.<\/p>\n
There would be a 4% backdated pay rise for 2023-24, on top of the existing increase worth an average of 9%.<\/p>\n
Then a further pay rise worth about 8% is being offered for 2024-25, as recommended by an independent pay review body.<\/p>\n
As it is over two years, it is not correct to say that it is 10 times the rate of inflation, which was 5.7% in 2023-24 and is expected by the OBR to be another 1.6% in the following year.<\/p>\n
As for it being three times what other public sector workers were getting, the Treasury says<\/a> that the average award was 6% in 2023-24 and is expected to be between 5% and 6% in the current year. The junior doctors are not getting three times that much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nPublic sector ‘pay has fallen behind private sector pay this last decade’ – Rachel Reeves<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\nThe chancellor was talking about why she had accepted the pay review bodies’ recommendation to give public sector workers pay rises above the rate of inflation.<\/p>\n
The shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt has spoken repeatedly about how the chancellor should have known about the state of the public finances.<\/p>\n
He says that’s because she had access to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) judgements from the time of the March Budget and was also entitled to ask questions to the Treasury’s most senior civil servant.<\/p>\n
“Those public finances were audited by the OBR just 10 weeks before the election was called,” Mr Hunt told MPs on Monday.<\/p>\n
But the head of the OBR wrote a letter on Tuesday<\/a> saying that he had only been made aware of some of the pressures last week.<\/p>\n He’s so worried about it that he has set up a review to assess the information provided to the OBR by the Treasury ahead of the Budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Defending her decision to accept the pay review bodies\u2019 recommendations on pay rises for public sector workers, Rachel Reeves told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that it would be \u201calmost unprecedented\u201d to reject them.<\/p>\n Pay review bodies (PRBs) make recommendations on pay for public-sector workers such as teachers, nurses, doctors, police officers and members of the armed forces. <\/p>\n They take evidence from relevant government departments, as well as unions and expert organisations, before they say how pay should change each year. <\/p>\n There are, however, government-set constraints that the PRBs have to take into consideration when making their recommendations.<\/p>\n It is true that the government usually accepts the recommendations (although they are not legally binding) but it is not that unusual for the government to reject some of the recommendations.<\/p>\n For example, Jeremy Hunt when he was health secretary, rejected the \u00a02014 \u00a0PRB\u00a0 recommendation for a pay rise of 1% for all doctors and dentists<\/a>. <\/p>\n There are other recent examples \u2013 in 2018 and 2022 – when the government rejected certain parts of some of the recommendations, according to the independent Institute for Government think tank<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The offer that the British Medical Association is putting to its members is worth about 22%, but that is over two years.<\/p>\n There would be a 4% backdated pay rise for 2023-24, on top of the existing increase worth an average of 9%.<\/p>\n Then a further pay rise worth about 8% is being offered for 2024-25, as recommended by an independent pay review body.<\/p>\n As it is over two years, it is not correct to say that it is 10 times the rate of inflation, which was 5.7% in 2023-24 and is expected by the OBR to be another 1.6% in the following year.<\/p>\n As for it being three times what other public sector workers were getting, the Treasury says<\/a> that the average award was 6% in 2023-24 and is expected to be between 5% and 6% in the current year. The junior doctors are not getting three times that much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The chancellor was talking about why she had accepted the pay review bodies’ recommendation to give public sector workers pay rises above the rate of inflation.<\/p>\n\u201cIt would be almost unprecedented to reject the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies\u201d Rachel Reeves<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘She finds 22% – 10 times inflation – to pay junior doctors – nearly three times inflation for every other public sector worker’ – Jeremy Hunt<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Public sector ‘pay has fallen behind private sector pay this last decade’ – Rachel Reeves<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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