ANY move by Tory ministers to ignore the advice of the supposedly independent pay review bodies they appoint would be “driven by politics, not economics,” the TUC warned today.

The charge came after embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Social Care Minister Helen Whately again refused to commit to accepting public-sector wage recommendations from the bodies, some of which are thought to be urging higher salary boosts than those by Downing Street.

The groups, which look at wages across health services, education and elsewhere, have their members appointed and remits set by ministers.

Their recommendations are not legally binding, but the government defended last year’s take-home pay cuts, which sparked the biggest strike wave to sweep Britain since the 1980s, by saying they had followed advice from the bodies. 

Asked by Sky News whether Mr Sunak would do so again, Ms Whatley said that she is “not going to pre-empt the government’s response to the pay review bodies.”

Exasperated host Kay Burley then asked: “The chairman is chosen by the Prime Minister and you tell them what the budgets are — what’s the point?”

The Faversham and Mid Kent MP later told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the PM would “consider” any recommendations put forward but the government would need to “look at what we can afford.”

Following the comments, Mr Sunak reached into the Tory Party playbook and attempted to appear tough, suggesting he was willing to make “difficult decisions” to curb 40-year-high inflation.

Mr Sunak also told reporters that he would “not shy away from making decisions people may not like” to tackle soaring prices, which unions warn are unrelated to public-sector pay and largely driven by rampant corporate profiteering.

TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell noted that key worker wages have fallen well behind the cost of living during more than a decade of Tory austerity.

She told the Today programme: “We had the government, back in the winter when they were refusing to negotiate with NHS workers, relying very heavily on the pay review bodies, saying we had to take into account this independent process.

“It is a bit rich to hear them now saying: ‘Well, we’re going to overturn those independent recommendations’ when we haven’t even seen them published yet.”

Growing uncertainty could inflame ongoing national industrial disputes, with tens of thousands of junior doctors and railway workers set to continue walkouts in the coming weeks.

The SNP warned that public-sector workers are “paying an unacceptable price for Westminster failure, showing why Scotland needs independence.”

The party’s deputy leader at Westminster Mhairi Black said: “After 13 years of Tory austerity, it beggars belief that Rishi Sunak is considering imposing even more cuts to the wages of nurses, teachers, police officers and others.

“Public-sector workers must not be punished, yet again, because the Tories wrecked the UK economy with Brexit and shambolic mismanagement.

“The SNP is the only party offering real change with independence, real help with the cost of living and real opposition to Tory cuts.”

The member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South also accused Sir Keir Starmer’s increasingly right-wing Labour Party of being “too busy copying Tory policies to stand up to the UK government.”