Public sector pay cap could be lifted, Number 10 signals

Downing Street has signalled that it will lift the public sector pay cap on the back of Theresa May's election drubbing.

A senior Number 10 source said the Prime Minister had "heard the message" from the General Election as he signalled a potential climbdown in the autumn.

"Ministers, including the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, have been clear that they are going to listen to the messages that were sent at the election," said the senior source.

"We understand that people are weary after years of hard work to rebuild the economy.

"Public sector pay restraint is one of the tough choices we've had to make to balance the books after Labour's crash and what was left behind.

"We are working through and looking at recommendations from pay bodies that are coming."

However, Downing Street later insisted there had been no change to the Government's policy, with the move described as "the standard process" for deciding public sector pay.

A possible U-turn would represent a big win for Jeremy Corbyn, who has repeatedly demanded that the cap should be lifted, and MPs will vote on lifting the cap this evening after Labour tabled an amendment to the Queen's Speech.

Labour's Andrew Gwynne, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said: "The British people denied Theresa May a majority in the General Election.

"The Conservatives have no mandate to carry out their damaging cuts to vital public services and attacks on the British people.

"Now, it appears, the dramatic increase in Labour's vote at the General Election and the strength of feeling among the British people may force the Government to U-turn and stop cutting public sector workers' pay."

Mr Gwynne added he would "look forward" to Tory MPs supporting the Labour amendment later on Wednesday.

Pressure has also been building from the unions, with bodies representing 1.3 million nurses, doctors and health professionals writing to the Prime Minister last month to ask her to end the pay cap.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said, if the cap is indeed lifted, "it will be a massive victory for trade union campaigning and hard-pressed public servants".

"It's about time that hard-working public sector workers got the pay rise they've earned," she said.

"But this can't be kicked in to the long grass, it needs to happen now. Public sector workers have waited long enough."

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said the Government was "in full retreat on public sector pay".

"Nurses, teachers, and our emergency services are on the front line every single day but have had thousands of pounds pinched from their pay packets already.

"They did not create the financial crash but have had to pay the highest price for it. Theresa May should end the cap on public sector pay now," he said.