As a civil servant in one of the lowest paybands its enraging us that we the lowest paid ( £15000 ) are being the ones to suffer in order to meet Browns inflation target.........while MP's award themselves thousands of pounds.
In a case like this percentages are meaningless, managers are getting far more in actual money paid out in a rise, and the lowest paid are falling further behind.
Theres trouble brewing

Robert, Buckingham, England

shirley Bowen is absoluteley correct. COMEON MR Brown isn't it about time you controlled yourself, your ministers and MPs over annual increases, also Local Councils from following suit.? I suppose you think you will turn cote on your pensioners in 2008; I do hope they will have the sense to rise up against you.

Barbara Lockwood, Norwich, Norfolk

Although the public message of toughness and discipline have been achieved it will be interesting to see if the action matches the rhetoric.New Labour's track record is pretty dismal when it comes to matching the headline. What they say and what they do have often been total opposites with little or no regard to reality aided by a supine press interested only in the current scraps thrown to them by the latest labour spin master.

philip, Ipswich,

To say to some of the lowest paid members of society, who perform valuable services, that 'he staging of the pay awards is an essential part of controlling inflation in the economy' is an insult to public sector workers. Such pay restraint should apply to those earning six figure salaries who had pay rises of 37% during the last year and I suspect that the way in which these were paid maanged to avoid most if not all income tax.

S G Wainwright, Swansea,

I agree with you completely Shirley! Their pay rises show the arrogancy of MP's with regard to their own importance. They'd probably argue that it's because of all the out-of-hours work they do, but who doesn't these days! What a bunch of self deluded fools!

Nigel Purvis, Newtownards, County Down

Gordon needs to get real: the extra proportion of public sector pay over say over 2% is insignificant in the overall scheme of things; this is gesture politics and spin (what a surprise from the spin master!) if GB thinks that setting curbing public sector pay an example for others when he belives at the same time that the market should regulate these things - he is confused and not in the real world.

Adrian, London, UK

"The pay rules are tough and you must be disciplined, Brown tells the unions".

Not if you are an MP, they're not! It won't be long before they want to up their salaries again!

All they do for us is to feather their own nests, they are in politics for their own financial gain, nothing more!!

Gwilym Morgan-Jones, Holyhead, North Wales,

Stop increasing taxes above pay rises and slipping in the odd stealth tax Gordon and you might have a chance. Who in their right mind wants to sit year by year watching their income reduced in real terms whilst their outgoins are increasing at an alarming rate. We are told that our money buys more than ever before and so it does but take a look at what your buying, cheap shoddy imports from the far east. The reality of the pay rise situation is quite simple the country is broke and Brown dare not admit that he has blown the lot on mindless projects. We are heading for a sweat shop economy hence the impoting of cheap foreign labour.

Steve P, Leeds, England

Public sector workers have traditionally been paid low wages. This was compensated by having better working conditions. Now the government wants to take these away too.
An average Civil Servant has a starting salry of 17K at a junior manager grade but admin grades start at between 10 & 12K. I know some who live and work in central london who have to feed a family of five on as little as 13Kp/a. when the government is paying below the poverty line wages how can they expect private companies to?

E. Mann, Warwick, U.K

put this government back in with a big majority at your peril
they will squeeze workers dry with tax rises and other means
its ok for them to have big pay rises but not the working class
everyone should stick together and make sure the government work for us and not themselves.

RICHARD MAINPRIZE, BRIDLINGTON, ENGLAND

The measure of inflation targeted by the Bank of England does not reflect the real rise in the cost of living. The Retail Prices Index is a more realistic representation of what minimum pay awards should be, unless you wish to impose a real pay cut on your employees. Having recently fallen to 3.8% from 4.4%, the second figure being very close to the average for 2007, there are various reasons why the fall will be reversed. With the oil price unlikely to weaken significantly and food prices to add to inflationary pressure, any pay settlement for less than 4.4% is a cut in pay from present levels. If you are already behind comparable pay for comparable work, why on earth would you entertain a pay award of any less? Having been told we have enjoyed an "economic miracle" and that the economy is strong, arguments that pay rises should be limited to 2.5% are very difficult to justify.

Hamish, Glasgow,

1/2 million Eastern Europeans entered the UK last year looking for work, any work, and the majority are more than willing to accept the minimum wage, or less. How can your average working man with a family compete with that? How could he reasonably demand a pay rise with so much competition at hand? Brown wants to flood the job market with cheap labour - good for the Unions for making a stand.

Jim, Manchester,

Funny how the low increases and staged awards frequently apply to the lower paid but Brown and the gang that surround him get massive increases in salary and mind boggling expenses, seemingly without having to produce much proof of such expenditure. It's yet another example of hypocricy; "don't do as I do, do as I say".

paul turfery, Cork, Ireland

As ever, this government's benchmark for inflation, the Consumer Price Index ( CPI ), misrepresents totally the rising cost of living in the country. Brown wants us to believe that annual inflation is running at around the 'official' 2% level but the reality is that spending power decreases by around 5% each year.
Remember, there are lies, damned lies and Labour statistics.

Rick, London, England

Pay awards below inflation? Not for MP's they're not eh, Gordon. And they awarded themselves £10,000 each this year to run their websites. What a lark, no wonder there's trouble brewing. Important key workers will naturally be feeling resentful, what does the 'government' expect.

shirley bowen, Blackpool, UK