A pay rise for Britain!

Wages soared by 3.8% in April... the highest increase for 11 years

workers have been handed another inflation-busting pay rise of 3.8 per cent as the Uk’s jobs miracle continues.

The average annual wage excluding bonuses stood at £26,104 in April, official figures show.

It is the 15th month in a row that wages have climbed faster than inflation.

The 3.8 per cent rise from April 2018 was the biggest increase in 11 years and suggests living standards are improving for millions of families as pay grows faster than prices. office for National statistics figures also show that an unprecedented 32.7million people are in work.

The employment rate stands at 76.1 per cent of the potential labour force – its joint highest ever. There is also record female employment.

The number of people in jobs has rocketed by 3.7million since the Tories came to power in 2010. And the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 per cent – its lowest level since 1974 when Labour’s Harold wilson was prime minister.

employment minister Alok sharma hailed the new figures, saying: ‘once again we see more people in work than ever before. The Government’s focus on pro-business policies and balanced economic management is delivering opportunity for all.’

Pay is increasing at a much faster rate than prices in the shops, outstripping inflation which stands at 2.1 per cent as measured by the consumer price index. Families’ earnings are stretching further as a result, leaving them with more money to spend or save.

Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: ‘The buoyant labour market is still going strong for the Uk economy, even as it weathers widespread political uncertainty.’

emma-Lou Montgomery, of investment firm Fidelity International, said: ‘wages dodged the Brexit bullet again in April. Unemployment also continued to fall, which is surprising given reports of job losses in retail and manufacturing over the past month.’

The ons said the jobs growth was driven entirely by an increase in full-time workers, suggesting that people entering the labour market are finding steady employment rather than having a precarious position on zero-hour contracts. The number of people in a part-time job dropped by 45,000 from a year earlier. The rise in employment was also chiefly powered by women, with the female job rate climbing to a record 72 per cent.

Junior doctors have been offered a 2 per cent pay rise annually for the next four years in a £90million contract upgrade to end a bitter fouryear row with ministers. The 8.2 per cent offer will be voted on by doctors next week.

‘Dodged the Brexit bullet’

HERE we go again. With cynical opportunism, Labour plans to force a vote allowing the Commons to rule out a No Deal Brexit – in the middle of the Tory leadership election.

As ever, there is no suggestion how Parliament might achieve the orderly and honourable Brexit nearly all MPs said they wanted. Just a recipe for more paralysis – and damn the national interest.

Is it any wonder the public is so contemptuous of the political class?

But this is also a blunt reminder to those vying to replace Theresa May of the daunting Parliamentary arithmetic.

To pile on the agony, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker reaffirmed Brussels’ intransigence, saying the withdrawal agreement could not be reopened, nor the Irish backstop changed.

So the dilemma remains. The candidates know the Tories must deliver Brexit before fighting an election. But none has yet told us precisely how that can be done. The Gordian knot is as tight as ever.