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Theresa May should not expect any gratitude for scrapping the public sector pay cap .

Police officers are not going to doff their helmets in respect, prison officers are not going to slam doors with an extra spring in their step.

They have been offered a pathetic deal; the only pay rise which leaves them worse off.

A 2% rise in wages is effectively a pay cut when inflation is running at 2.9%. The small print reveals the police will only get a 1% hike and the other 1% is a 'non-consolidated' bonus - a one-off payment that won't carry over to the following year.

And that is not the only sting in the tail. The money for these pay rises, and one presumes any similar hike for teachers, nurses and council staff, will come from existing budgets.

Teachers are unlikely to welcome a meagre pay rise which is funded from cutting classroom assistants.

Over-stretched NHS staff will not be taking to the streets to praise the generosity of the Tory government if wards are closed and equipment is rationed.

Mrs May has grudgingly abandoned the pay cap only because it was politically impossible to sustain the Government’s position.

Once she handed the DUP more than £1billion to prop up her rickety administration she could no longer claim there was no magic money tree.

The general election showed that voters’ patience with the Tory austerity was starting to fray.

Faced with an increasingly angry electorate and a resurgent Jeremy Corbyn Mrs May had no option but to move on public sector pay.

It is not just a cheap political manoeuvre to salvage some popularity, it is probably the cheapest they thought they could get away with.

By handing out a few extra crumbs she has bought herself some respite but it will take a more substantial offer to repair the damage caused by seven-year pay freeze.