Conference registers opposition to local pay deals and secret courts

They backed by a clear majority a motion calling on the Government to rule out any further expansion in local pay, following controversy in low-wage areas such as parts of Yorkshire.

The Treasury is poised to reveal details of how it hopes to implement local pay deals across the public sector within weeks, insisting nationally-agreed wage deals mean pay is being kept artificially high in poorer parts of the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has pledged to block any policy that would widen the North-South divide, but is supportive of allowing schools and hospitals to set their own locally-agreed rates of pay.

But his former government colleague Nick Harvey was among a string of Lib Dem MPs and delegates who lined up to speak out against any change to national pay bargaining.

“The proposals that are coming forward from the Government, of which we form part, threaten to undermine and reverse 40 years of social progress,” he said. “You can give this any name you 
like – regional pay, local pay, market-facing pay, it makes no difference.

“Actually I think that local pay would be even worse than regional pay. Regional pay means dividing the country into about 11 and shafting the poor areas. Local pay means dividing it into about 400 and doubly shafting the poor areas.”

Rural areas, he argued, had the “toxic combination” of very low pay and very high living costs, and would be hit even harder.

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said local pay would leave certain areas with the prospect of a talent drain, and added: “We will not solve the vast inequalities that exist in this country by paying poorer people less.”

Delegates also voted to oppose the closed courts which are to be established as part of the Justice and Security Bill, and used in certain national security cases.