WORKERS in Scotland are “being let down by two governments” as wages north of the border fall faster than the UK average, the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) said today.

A STUC study of PAYE data from June 2021 and June 2023 has revealed that real wages in Scotland fell by 3 per cent in that time, compared with a 1 per cent fall across all of Britain and Northern Ireland.

The analysis concluded that the cost to the average worker in Scotland over those two years — when the cost-of-greed crisis was at its height — was a staggering £1,448, while the UK average pay cut stood at £995.

The Tory government at  Westminster eschewed price controls to focus on “wage restraint” to tackle inflation, but a similar policy by the SNP Scottish government has followed, despite the STUC offering tax proposals to raise £1.3 billion a year to boost public-sector pay and services in Scotland.

Ahead of statistics due next week that are widely expected to show some wage growth, STUC general secretary Roz Foyer warned that it would take more than one month’s growth to undo two years of pay cuts.

She said: “What this analysis shows is that workers in Scotland are at risk of becoming the poor relation of the UK, with wages falling further and faster than the UK average.

“The blame lies firmly at the door of our political class, with ordinary working people being let down by two governments.

“The UK government, through its economic stupidity and suppression of wages, has pushed workers to the brink, whilst the Scottish government is hardly helping through its punitive public-sector pay strategy.

“The Scottish government must immediately revisit this strategy and provide workers with the real-terms support they need.

“One month’s potential growth will be cold comfort for workers who have endured over two years of cost-of-living agony, denigrating their living standards and decimating their incomes.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Employment law is reserved to the UK government.

“However, Scotland is leading the way, with 91 per cent of employees aged over 18 [having] earned the real living wage or more in 2022 — higher than any other UK country.

“In comparison to the rest of the UK, our approach to public-sector pay has resulted in Scottish public-sector workers receiving between 4 per cent and 6 per cent higher salaries on average over the last three financial years.”

The Scotland Office was contacted for comment.