PUBLIC services are in crisis, union leaders have warned, after Sir Keir Starmer suggested he would not grant above-inflation pay rises this year.

Speaking on a visit to Washington DC for the Nato summit, the Prime Minister answered “no” when asked whether he would “give the unions what they want.”

“Obviously, there are a number of pay settlements to be gone through on an annual basis,” he added.

“But the finances are in a very poor state, I think that is obvious.”

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “This is not what we want to hear from the new Prime Minister. We expect an above-inflation teacher pay offer that is fully funded.

“Failing to provide properly funded pay increases will have severe costs in terms of recruitment, retention and the delivery of education.

“Education is already at breaking point. Another below-inflation pay rise will break it.”

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite which represents some 100,000 health staff, said: “The biggest crisis facing the NHS and other public-sector areas is the inability to recruit and retain workers, caused by many years of pay freezes and below inflation pay rises. 

“If we don’t sort out the crisis of people, we won’t sort out the crisis in the NHS.”

She said a recent vote by local government members, which overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer of just under 6 per cent, “must act as a wake-up call that the sector desperately needs an injection of funding to ensure the workers it depends on are paid properly and vital front-line services can be properly delivered.”

A Royal College of Midwives spokesperson added: “The next NHS pay award must be fair and come swiftly.

“We will consult our members on whether it meets their expectations.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak warned “there are going to be millions of other public-sector workers who will be keen to get a decent pay rise this year.”

He called on the government to publish reports from the public sector pay review bodies “and use those as the basis of a positive, open discussion and negotiation with the unions about what pay settlements look like this year.”

Momentum co-chairwoman Sasha das Gupta said: “Any failure to deliver on an above-inflation pay increase will further bring the NHS and education sector closer to breaking point.

“The government must stand by public-sector workers and provide sustained above-inflation pay increases, no ifs no buts.”