PAY packets are worth less than 2008 in nearly two in three local authorities in a “damning indictment” of the Conservatives’ economic record, TUC analysis shows.

Real wages are below levels when the global financial crisis hit 16 years ago in 212 out of 340 local authorities, the union federation found.

Its research said the average worker would be £200 a week better off if real wages had grown at the pre-crisis rate, with wage performance across the country well below historic trends.