A few weeks ago, we wrote that there was starting to be something of the 1970s about the UK. The sense of deja vu is rising. This week, we learned that Consumer Price Index inflation (the government's favoured measure) is at 2.9%. The Retail Price Index the one the government tells us is deeply flawed, but which they still use to benchmark student loans, rail fares and index-linked gilts is at 3.9%. At the same time, the threat of industrial action is growing.
Theresa May's government is to partly lift the 1% public-sector pay cap (even although taxpayer-funded public-sector compensation remains firmly above the private sector's). This has done her little good. The chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales reckons his members will be "angry and deflated". Three of our biggest unions see a "strong likelihood" of co-ordinated strike action, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won't say whether he would back illegal strikes or not. It is, he says, "a matter for the unions". Weak government, low growth, high debt, persistent inflation and and an aggressive dollop of strike action about to be chucked into the mix. Not encouraging.
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