Inflation threat - Hold the line on public pay

THAT old enemy of economic stability and the possibility of social equity — inflation — has become a real and present danger to our material wellbeing.

Runaway mortgage repayments and food prices have pushed inflation to a six-year high. Inflation averaged 4.9% last year, more than twice the rate recorded even two years ago.

There is little enough comfort in these figures as one generation sees the cost of putting a roof over their heads soar from already giddy heights and their parents’ generation — unless insulated by a government pension — watch as their pension prospects decline every time share values fall on the stock markets.

Government has had a significant input to these figures and must begin to show that it will do all it can to curb state-sponsored inflation.

Though it has not created an atmosphere of restraint by deferring ministerial pay rises, it must be resilient in the forthcoming pay talks. These talks cannot become benchmarking-by-default for disappointed public employees. To do so would make an already inequitable situation intolerable.