The UK government’s amateur grandstanding will end in humiliation. It should sit down with the grownups instead
“Spoiling for a fight.” That, Labour and the unions fear, is the mindset of ministers. This cabinet is so incompetent, pig-headed and inexperienced that they charge headfirst, eyes tight shut, into a mighty confrontation with the public workforce. Lost in dreams of Margaret Thatcher’s glory days, they imagine there is something called “victory” to be had in screwing down public wages. Unless they back off, they will fail and look very foolish indeed.
Talk to trade union leaders, a worldly wise cadre of often female negotiators, and it’s clear who the grownups are. They warn and educate employers, public and private, in the basic facts about pay deals in an era of galloping inflation and acute labour shortages. Employees will either strike or walk off the job for better pay elsewhere. For all its harrumphing belligerence, the government has no armoury for this “fight” with nurses, ambulance workers, border guards, train drivers and others in their wake.
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
This article was amended on 6 December 2022. An earlier version referred to “ambulance drivers” when it should have said “ambulance workers”.
