Conservative MPs who cheered after successfully blocking Labour’s attempt to abolish the public sector pay cap have been branded “despicable”, “out of touch” and “hypocritical”.
Tories and the Democratic Unionist Party joined forces yesterday to block a move to give nurses, police officers and other public sector workers a pay rise about 1% just days after Theresa May agreed to pump an additional £1.5billion into Northern Ireland.
Labour MP Jess Phillips, who said she was “deflated and dispirited” by the vote, led criticism of May’s party, alongside many other left-wing politicians:
Many voters also took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.
“Tories praised emergency services after terror attacks and Grenfell,” one angry Labour supporter wrote on Twitter. “But they cheered them not getting a pay rise #ToryScum.”
Some accused the Tories of hypocrisy following the party’s repeated praise of emergency services during recent tragedies:
Others pointed out that on the same day that heroic policeman Wayne Marques, who charged at the London Bridge attackers with just a baton, spoke out for the first time, the Conservative Party and the DUP voted to cap his pay:
Speaking yesterday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Conservative Party had missed an opportunity to “put their money where their mouth is”.
“Although government ministers said they had learned the lessons of the General Election and were listening to voters, it is clear that nothing has changed,” he said.
“They had the perfect opportunity to walk the walk, but instead they marched through the lobby to show Tory austerity is business as usual.
“While the money is there when the Conservatives need it to keep themselves in office, the rest of the country now face more devastating cuts to our emergency and other vital services.”