Pay freeze: Annabel Goldie has made the call Pic: © STV
The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has called on all public sector workers who currently earn more than £18,000 to have their salaries frozen.
Annabel Goldie, who is a list member for the West of Scotland region, believes that such a move is necessary to save thousands of jobs during difficult economic times.
Ms Goldie wants the pay freeze to come into effect in the financial year 2011-12 and will make the plea in a speech in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening, in which the Tory leader will also set out her stall for the forthcoming UK General Election campaign.
In her address, Miss Goldie will stress the need for spending restraint, saying: "We must spend less. That is why I believe we must freeze public sector pay in Scotland in 2011-12 for people earning over £18,000."
She will add: "The freeze is not about penalising people - it is about saving people’s jobs. A pay freeze on this scale is the equivalent of saving 10,000 jobs.
"I would rather people were in work with a pay freeze than out of work with no pay at all. We are all in this together and when I say ‘we’ I mean the public sector and the private sector, I mean Scotland and England, I mean the politicians and the people."
However, Labour leader Iain Gray claimed that freezing the salaries of public sector workers earning more than £18,000 would be "fundamentally unfair".
Mr Gray said Ms Goldie’s proposal would "actively damage the economy by taking the money out of the pockets of hard-working Scottish families".
