MICHAEL Gove insists a big pay rise for teachers would fuel inflation.
The Cabinet Minister’s warning comes ahead of strike action which is likely to hit 23,000 schools this week.
Asked by Sky News about awarding a big pay rise to teachers, Mr Gove said: “That would only contribute to further inflation.
“It would only create a spiral.”
He said the Government’s priority was cutting inflation, adding: “That is the best tax cut, the best pay rise that anyone could have.”
Teachers are among 500,000 workers, including train drivers and civil servants, due to walk out on Wednesday in the biggest day of industrial action in a decade.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is to hold talks with teaching unions in a last-ditch attempt to avert their strike.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, insisted: “This is the last chance to avoid the strike.”
Also on Wednesday, protests will be held across the country against the Government’s proposed anti-strike laws.
A petition signed by 200,000 people opposing the new legislation will be handed in at Downing Street.
