The sooner public sector pay is tackled, the better for us all

WHEN Steve Bundred, the head of the Audit Commission, called for public sector pay to be frozen or at least subject to "severe" restraint to help rebalance the public finances, he would almost certainly have been warned that such remarks risked provoking considerable anger. But which group is likely to be angered most? The public sector trade unions? Or workers in the private sector who are astonished that such curbs have not already been put in place?

They will be angrier still if nothing is done soon.

For years public sector pay lagged that in the private sector. For that reason there was some sympathy for public sector workers. But times have changed. Today the growth in average earnings in t...