Value of pay falling due to inflation should be cause for alarm - The Yorkshire Post says

Alarm bells should be ringing for any Government that sees the real value of pay fall by 3 per cent despite average wages rising 4.7 per cent.

Those are the quarterly figures revealed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which showed that not only did inflation wipe out any pay rise but made people poorer.

It has created an environment where disgruntlement over pay and working conditions isn’t just restricted to a handful of sectors.

Unions up and down the country have been threatening industrial action.

Despite attempts by certain sections of the media and political class to cast picketing employees as unreasonable agitators, everyday more and more industries are facing disruption.

As Bernard Ingham in his column today says “even barristers go on strike and doctors seem to be in a permanent state of threat”.

There is a danger of a ‘wage-price-spiral’ where higher pay itself becomes a cost fuelling inflation.

But the majority of people who are picketing simply want to be able to afford a roof over their heads and be able to feed their families.

The latest supermarket industry figures from Kantar show grocery price inflation has hit its highest level since 2008, reaching 11.6 per cent over the past four weeks.

That’s before the impending rises in energy costs that will tip many people into poverty.

This is why the country needs an emergency budget that deals with the energy crisis, levels up - for there are still pre-existing regional inequalities - and grasps the nettle on the rising cost of living.