A BANK of England official has caused anger by saying Brits “have to accept they’re worse off” and stop demanding pay rises.
Huw Pill, the BoE’s chief economist, said there was a “reluctance to accept” the UK is poorer.
Huw Pill, the BoE’s chief economist, said Brits ‘have to accept they’re worse off’
The official, who earns an £88,000 salary, also said Brits stop demanding pay rises
He said gas prices rises triggered by the war in Ukraine had led to the problems and ignoring it risked a long-lasting inflation.
Mr Pill, who got an £88k salary when he started at the BoE in 2021, told a podcast people “need to accept that they’re worse off and we all have to take our share”.
It comes as food prices have risen at the fastest rate in 45 years and inflation is above ten per cent — five times the target of two per cent.
The former Goldman Sachs banker warned a “pass-the-parcel game” of workers demanding higher wages was pushing up prices as companies passed on the extra costs from increased pay and energy prices to consumers.
He said: “That game is the one that’s generating inflation and that part of inflation can persist.”
Martin McTague, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the “out of touch comments” by Mr Pill were “criticising firms for putting up prices to cope with the cost of living crisis”.
He added last night: “Small firms have absorbed as much as they can.”
