Thursday 23 June 2022 09:02 AM Rishi holds out against bumper pay deals as Covid bill hits £376BILLION trends now
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Rishi Sunak warned he will not splash the cash on public sector pay hikes today as the £376billion cost of Covid were laid bare.
The Chancellor underlined the need to be 'responsible' with the public finances after the Treasury told Whitehall departments any extra wage boosts must be found from within existing budgets.
The intervention came as the government's spending watchdog revealed its final update on the bill for the response to the pandemic.
The eye-watering total is now £376billion - notably including another £4billion in recent months to keep emergency bailouts in place for train operators this year. Rail unions are on strike demanding a 7 per cent pay hike that the government says is unaffordable.
The parlous state of the government's books was also revealed in new figures showing it borrowed £14billion in May, and interest payments on the £2.4trillion debt mountain hit a record £7.6billion due to soaring inflation.
