Dorset MPs and councillors have spoken out over the current row regarding public sector pay.

Westminster politicians have been arguing for weeks over whether the one per cent cap on pay rises for public sector workers should be lifted and whether public sectors workers are underpaid. 

Now local figures in Dorset have had their say on the matter.

Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, and Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, were both cautious about the idea of lifting the pay cap for all public sector workers. 

Mr Drax said: “I think like all these things there are some people in the private sector who are overpaid and some people in the public sector who are overpaid.”

He used the recent release of salaries given to BBC stars as an example of people being overpaid in the public sector, adding that there are also people who are underpaid in both sectors.

He said: “I would love to see the nurses, armed forces and police to receive a pay rise.”

However, Mr Drax said that if the country could not afford the rise then it would not be able to happen.

He said: “If we are not going to pass on a huge burden, which will be highly irresponsible, to our children and grandchildren, we have got to watch the purse strings.”

Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, said that average pay for public sector workers is actually rising at a rate “well above” the one per cent pay cap, because many receive annual increases in addition to the basic rise.

However, he added: “I believe that the situation has nevertheless changed markedly over the last seven years, and we will therefore need to look closely at the next round of reports from the public sector pay review bodies rather than‎ seeking to apply a uniform one per cent cap on rises for those public sector workers who do not receive increments.”

Cllr Jeff Cant, leader of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, said that Chancellor Philip Hammond’s comment that public sector workers are paid a ten per cent premium from their pensions was a “viable argument.”

He added: “But you cannot spend pension contributions. At the end of the month, the public sector worker is not going to get an additional 10 per cent a year.”

In terms of a tax rise to fund a partial lifting of the pay cap, Cllr Cant said that so long as a pay rise was “largely going to people in a very poor way, I do not think there will be much of a fightback.”

He added: “I think we need to take a more flexible approach to public sector pay.”

Councillor Kate Wheller, who represents Portland Harbour on Dorset County Council, was clear in saying the pay cap should “absolutely” be lifted.

She said: “I think it ill behoves Philip Hammond, a multi-millionaire, to disparage a pay rise for public sector workers. People like teachers and nurses and refuse collectors – these people are essential to our quality of life.”