The Government have made several mistakes re this issue
1) They have broken a longstanding arrangement on the annual increases to be paid to the Police ie: the Tribunals' recommendation that should be honoured, and on time. 2)the true rate of inflation affecting household outgoings is the Retail Price Index (RPI) which is currently around 4% (and this does not include Council Tax hikes?) and not the Consummer Price Index (CPI) currently at approx 2% which Gordon Brown keeps quoting in all arguments. Did you see and hear G Brown's monologue on the Andrew Marr show last Sunday? I lost count of the number of times the Prime Minister told us viewers that 'they' had got inflation down to 2% while the USA was at 4%. I wish Andrew Marr had had the balls to pick him up on this point - but he is employed by the BBC! 3) See today's Daily Mail re the amount of overtime paid last year to the police - much more than the £30m 'saved' by not backdating this years pay increase. The Goverment should tackle this first, the police force are either understaffed or deliberately 'fiddling' the overtime!
David Cropper
Posted on 12 Jan 2008 11:44 pm
The Government have made several mistakes re this issue
1) They have broken a longstanding arrangement on the annual increases to be paid to the Police ie: the Tribunals' recommendation that should be honoured, and on time. 2)the true rate of inflation affecting household outgoings is the Retail Price Index (RPI) which is currently around 4% (and this does not include Council Tax hikes?) and not the Consummer Price Index (CPI) currently at approx 2% which Gordon Brown keeps quoting in all arguments. Did you see and hear G Brown's monologue on the Andrew Marr show last Sunday? I lost count of the number of times the Prime Minister told us viewers that 'they' had got inflation down to 2% while the USA was at 4%. I wish Andrew Marr had had the balls to pick him up on this point - but he is employed by the BBC! 3) See today's Daily Mail re the amount of overtime paid last year to the police - much more than the £30m 'saved' by not backdating this years pay increase. The Goverment should tackle this first, the police force are either understaffed or deliberately 'fiddling' the overtime!