Can we now afford a 3% pay increase?

When defending a 1% increase for SLOT ONLINE nurses, doctors and other NHS staff in March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as "as much as we can at the present time”. Now the increase will be 3%.

Today the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: "The economy is actually doing better than we anticipated four months ago, and we feel that we can afford the 3%."

At the start of the year, the International Monetary Fund predicted that the British economy would grow by 4.5% in 2021. Following the vaccine programme and the reopening of businesses, they now expect the UK economy to grow by 5.3% this year. Meanwhile, the Bank of England expects the economy to grow by 7.25%, which would be the fastest growth in more than 70 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the government received £62.2bn in taxes in June compared with £46.2bn in February. However, in June alone, the government also borrowed £22.8bn and spent £8.7bn on interest payments after a year and a half of record borrowing.

And the prime minister's spokesman painted a slightly different picture of how the 3% rise would be paid for. “It will be funded from within the NHS budget but we’re very clear it won't impact frontline services.”