Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference paragraph 39 of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's Monetary Policy Summary and minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting ending on 21 June 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of that report's predictions for the rate of average weekly earnings growth for the rest of 2023.

The latest Office for National Statistics data indicates that annual total pay growth (including bonuses) was 6.5% in the three months to April.

The National Living and Minimum Wage rate was adjusted this April, in line with the recommendation from the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC). In light of this, we expect to see over 2 million workers earn a pay rise, and a further 4 million workers could indirectly benefit from said rise. We expect this increase to the minimum wage will put more money in the pockets of over 2.5 million of the lowest-paid people in the country.

The Government’s priority is halving inflation this year, on the path back to the target of 2% CPI. Our commitment to this target is iron-clad and it applies at all times. The Bank of England has the Government's full support as they take action to return inflation to this target through their independent monetary policy decisions, in line with the primacy of price stability in the Government’s monetary policy objective. The Monetary Policy Committee will continue to monitor closely indications of persistent inflationary pressures in the economy as a whole, including the tightness of labour market conditions and the behaviour of wage growth and services price inflation.