Osborne pledges public sector pay freeze for those on more than GBP18,000.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

George Osborne today announced that a Conservative government would impose a one-year pay freeze for the 4 million public servants earning more than GBP18,000 in 2011 as he vowed to tackle the country's debt crisis.

The shadow chancellor also said he would reverse the effects of the government's move to end tax relief on pension funds, would abolish the national child trust fund for the rich and remove tax credits from families earning more than GBP50,000.

And he warned that he "reserved the right" to tax bankers' pay further if their bonuses got out of hand.

However, members of the armed forces serving in Afghanistan would be exempt from the pay freeze, and their operational allowance would be doubled from GBP2,400 a year to GBP4,800.

The pay freeze "is the equivalent to saving 100,000 public sector jobs", Osborne said.

"I say to every public sector worker: it is the best way to try to protect your job during this period. We are all in this together."

One million public servants earning less than GBP18,000 a …