I think it’s important people understand the reasoning behind my vote on yesterday’s amendment to the Queen’s Speech on the public sector pay cap.

The amendment put forward by Labour last night would not have changed the pay of public sector workers. That change will need to be in the budget.
The amendment was designed as a mischief making exercise and that is what it has achieved.

On the subject of public sector pay more widely, I agree that it is now imperative we look at pay for all of the public sector. I, and others in the Conservative Party, are making those points to government. I am optimistic that the cap will be lifted sooner rather than later.

However, we need to decide as a Government and a country how we fund pay rises. Is it tax rises or borrowing? Some people say they would pay more tax to fund our public services, but those tax rises would include the public sector too.

There is a conversation to be had and I think we will be having that in the not too distant future.

It must be remembered if we fund public sector pay from borrowing it has a cost. The interest on the nation’s debts is £50 billion per year (or £144 million per day) and rising. People living today are unlikely to see our debts repaid. We will leave that to our children and grandchildren to sort out for us.