There is obviously an attractive argument for the pay of public servants to be linked to inflation. On the other hand, there is an argument to be had, because private sector workers do not get such a guarantee and often do not get other benefits which public sector workers do.
The article you've linked, however, is an opinion piece and it's obvious that nothing the government did would have satisfied - let alone impressed - the author. A particularly silly criticism is complaining that the extra spending on Northern Ireland was made "so public", when there would very clearly have been enormous criticism of the government for any hint of keeping it quiet.
Party politics is adversarial. The government had already set out its policy stance some days ago, and this vote was simply a challenge by the opposition. It is not a surprise that members of the governing party are pleased to show that they can win the votes which are the difference between running the country and not.
We are going to have a lot more of this, because the current composition of parliament means these votes will always be close, and it is a way for the opposition to seek publicity for their policy platform. I suspect it is a tactic which will have diminishing returns, but maybe I'm wrong about that and it will gather steam. We will see.