New UK finance minister Zahawi urges caution on public sector pay

Britain's new finance minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Wednesday the government needed to be very careful about increases in public sector pay, cautioning that it needed to be fiscally responsible and avoid driving inflation higher.

"The important thing is to get inflation under control, be fiscally responsible," he told Sky News.

"The first thing we've got to do is make sure that we are really careful about, whether it's public sector pay, that inflation doesn't continue to be fuelled."

Nadhim Zahawi said he would prioritise rebuilding the economy after the pandemic, getting economic growth going again and cutting taxes.

"The most important thing is to rebuild the economy post-pandemic and to get growth going again and tax cuts," he added.

Britain's economy is showing signs of a slowdown as inflation heads for double-digits and it is forecast to be weaker than other big industrialised economies next year.

Zahawi said the government needed to rebuild and grow the country's struggling economy, and he would look at all options to do that.

"I will look at everything, there is nothing off the table," he told Sky News, when asked about possible tax cuts.

Zahawi was appointed on Tuesday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson hours after Rishi Sunak quit the job in protest at Johnson's "standards" and citing differences over economic policy with the prime minister.