NHS cuts and public sector pay: will there be a ‘winter of discontent’?

The chancellor's options in the autumn budget to allay voters' frustrations over austerity are diminishing by the day

In the weeks that followed their disastrous election result, a delegation of Tory MPs marched to Downing Street with a clear message for the prime minister and her team. After years of austerity, voters' patience was running out, and some positivity was needed.

The MPs went away from the meeting convinced they had secured an end to the public sector pay cap that would mark a loosening of spending cuts that they could use to show their constituents that the government was listening.

NHS Providers sai the service was on course for disaster unless an extra 350m was found for beds and staff

It all adds up to a very long queue outside the chancellor's door