UK Economy and Wage Growth Discussion

Look, I would not in any way, uh, shy away from the fact that

there's been a challenging, uh, business environment a-

across a lot of countries.

Now, a lot of that comes frankly from some of

the big international crises that

we've seen, Iran, and what that means for inflation,

what it means for energy

prices. It's been a challenging environment for

people.

But I will in no way shy away from saying the business

environment in the UK is improving under this government.

The economy is improving.

There's still a lot to do, but look at real wages outstripping

inflation.

How, how is it improving if the number of payroll employees has

dropped 130,000-

Well, the, the, the-

... in the private sector?

The, the two fundamental things, Nick, are, is the economy growing per head?

So not just growing overall. Under those Tory years it

was broadly stagnant, but it

got bigger when immigration increased. That's not making people better off.

Every quarter under this government, the economy has risen per head.

So that's one measure. The second one I would look at is,

are real wages

increasing? So are wages increasing faster than

inflation, faster than costs?

And yes-

Well, they are if they're in the public sector.

They're increasing by 6.3%.

But all-

In the private sector, they're increasing by 2.9%.

Yeah, but they're increasing across-

So it's fantastic if you're in the public sector.

Well, hang on. They're increasing across the whole of the

country-

Are you honestly telling my listeners that things can only get better?

No, I'm saying that things have got better on

the data that counts, on the things

that make a difference-

Mm

... to people's living standards, but I'm saying we're not happy.

We're not com- we're not complacent in any way.

There's obviously more to do.

But what you wanna, what you wanna look at

if you're a cabinet minister in the UK

is, is the economy growing per head rather

than just growing overall, and are

people's wages growing faster than the cost, faster than prices?

Those two have gotta be good things, right, when they're going in the right

direction.