Tories grow increasingly nervous about the Budget

So long, public sector pay cap. After months of speculation – and some public Cabinet feuding – over the seven-year pay freeze, No 10 today announced that the government would be adopting a more ‘flexible’ approach from now on. Police and prison officers will be the first to receive a pay rise with more sectors expected to get a pay increase as it’s rolled out across the board.

This concession from the government just months after Philip Hammond argued on Marr that public sector workers get a 10pc ‘premium’ over their private sector counterparts shows that the shift in public mood proved more powerful than any argument for it. The difficult thing for the government is that it looks like a concession. With Hammond previously reported to have said public sector workers are ‘overpaid’, it’s unlikely the benefactors of the U-turn will feel particularly indebted to the Tories.