Britain's finance minister is considering a pay rise for nearly 2m civil servants

Britain's new finance minister, Christine Reeves, says she is considering a pay rise for nearly two million civil servants later this month.

Two pay review bodies in Britain recommended a 5.5 percent pay increase for 460,000 teachers and 1.4 million National Health Service workers, Reuters reported.

On the question of whether the government would approve these increases, Reeves stressed that she valued public service workers and warned of the cost of the long-running battle with unions, which undermined the previous government's efforts to improve public services.

"I place a high value on public service workers, including those in our schools, hospitals and police forces," Mr Reeves told the BBC.

She said the government would "ensure the totals are equal" if public sector workers' pay rises were higher than the rate of inflation.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the cost of a 5.5 per cent pay rise for teachers and certain National Health Service staff is estimated to be around £3 billion at a time when inflation is currently running at around 2 per cent in the UK.

The IFS said that if the government wanted to approve the pay rise, it would have to raise taxes, increase borrowing or cut government spending in other areas.

Reeves will set out plans for public sector pay deals by the end of the month and announce the date of the next budget.