Brown insists pay discipline is "essential"
Gordon Brown addressed the TUC for the first time as PM
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Monday, 10, Sep 2007 08:27
Prime minister Gordon Brown has insisted that pay discipline in the public sector is "essential" to prevent inflation.
In his first speech to the TUC as Britain's premier, Mr Brown added that ongoing economic stability would be key to creating more jobs in Britain in the future.
The prime minister's comments come after the TUC accused the government of trying to "railroad" through a pay settlement that was "well below" the rate of inflation.
Ahead of the organisation's annual conference in Brighton this week, union leaders had attacked Mr Brown's decision to stagger a 2.5 per cent pay rise for public sector workers, a decision made while he was Britain's chancellor of the exchequer.
Critics say that by opting to stagger the wage deal recommended by an independent pay review body, the government has left public sector staff with an overall pay increase amounting to just 1.9 per cent.
But despite facing strike threats from thousands of public servants over the pay deal, the prime minister today stressed that he would "always put stability first" when it came to economic management.
Referring to the approaching 15th anniversary of Black Wednesday, when John Major's Conservative government was forced to pull out of the exchange rate mechanism on September 16th 1992, Mr Brown insisted that Britain should "never return again" to the days when "reckless promises" were made to simultaneously cut taxes and increase public spending.
Addressing the challenge of globalisation, the prime minister also stressed the need to improve the skills of British workers and outlined measures designed to create an additional 500,000 jobs in the country.
Mr Brown said that there were currently "two-thirds of a million" vacancies in the UK, describing a lack of skills as the biggest barrier to achieving full employment.
He said that the government was in discussions with 200 of Britain's largest companies over measures to boost skills, while stressing that every lone parent in Britain looking for work would be guaranteed a job interview.
Single parents taking part in work trials will also be able to receive six weeks worth of benefits, as part of the measures to boost employment, while training allowances will also be available for those who need to boost their skills.
The prime minister added that more migrants coming to work in the UK would be required to pass English language tests.
Stressing his belief that there are still too many over-16s who are not in further education, training or work, Mr Brown also said that this summer's school leavers will be offered the guarantee of a place on a pre-apprenticeship course or in college by the end of the month.
But the Conservatives claimed that Mr Brown's proposals were "about grabbing the headlines".
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling insisted that the majority of new jobs created since Labour came to power, in 1997, had gone to people moving into the UK from other countries.
"The reality is that one in five households in Britain is workless and youth unemployment is higher than it was ten years ago," he stressed.
"Mr Brown's claims about a British job for every British worker are all about grabbing the headlines and bear no relation to what's really going on in Britain today."