Bid to force Osborne to keep pay rise promise

In his emergency budget in June 2010, Mr Osborne imposed a two-year pay freeze on public sector workers, but promised that those earning £21,000 or less would receive a flat pay increase of £250 in each of the years.

The Chancellor said that the measure would benefit 1.7 million workers, but Labour MP Frank Field today revealed that he had unearthed official information suggesting that only 715,000 are in fact getting the rise.

Backed by senior Labour MPs David Blunkett, John Mann and John McDonnell, Mr Field is today tabling an amendment to the Finance Bill which would reduce the tax liability of all public sector workers earning less than £21,000 by £250 to ensure that they get the extra money in their pay packets.

If selected by the Speaker and approved by MPs, the change could cost the Treasury £500m.

In response to a parliamentary question from Mr Field, Treasury Minister David Gauke recently revealed that the flat pay-rise would go only to workforces under ministerial control or which have their own pay review bodies, including civil servants, doctors and dentists, NHS staff, teachers, the armed forces and prison officers.

But the Birkenhead MP calculated that this would mean about one million of the 1.7 million low-paid workers mentioned by Mr Osborne missing out.

Mr Field said: “‘We are all in this together’ has been the constant refrain of the coalition Government. Yet here is a policy which could not be further away from this aim.

“Yet again it is the lowest-paid workers in our society who are suffering.

“Today, MPs have the opportunity to secure the deal George Osborne made with low-paid public sector workers in his first Budget.

“I hope they embrace the opportunity and vote for the amendment.”