Britain on Wednesday unveils a new cost-of-living budget, including more help on soaring energy bills, but the government is set to stand firm on rising public sector pay demands as the country endures a fresh wave of strikes.
Finance minister Jeremy Hunt delivers his tax and spending plan to parliament from 1230 GMT, as teachers, junior doctors, civil servants, BBC journalists and drivers on London's underground Tube railway stage the latest day of mass walkouts.Public and private sector workers show little sign of ending strike action that began last year when rocketing inflation slashed the value of wages.
It is looking to fill 1.1 million staff vacancies -- in part caused by a lack of EU workers following Brexit and owing to a record number of people classed as long-term sick.Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt is expected to announce that workers can put more tax-free money into their private pensions, even if many will not have the disposable income to do so.
The headline measure is a hike in the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62, seen by many as unfair to people who started working young. The National Education Union on Wednesday threatened to step up action should the government fail to put"money on the table".
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