Minister says government is 'resolute' on pay, as nurses threaten further industrial action
18 December 2022, 14:35 | Updated: 18 December 2022, 15:02
The Cabinet minister in charge of contingency planning for strikes has said the government is 'resolute' on pay, as nurses threaten further industrial action.
In an interview during BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden acknowledged that while the situation is "challenging" the government has to be 'sensible' with finances.
His comments come with members of the Royal College of nursing (RCN), due to walk out on December 20, said threatening that the union will escalate the industrial action if ministers fail to engage in talks within 48 hours.
But the former Culture Secretary insisted the Government is being fair and said that it had to be responsible about how it spends the public's money, and the government wasn't prepared to override the recommended offer from the independent pay review body.
He told Ms Kuenssberg: " I think the Government is being reasonable, we’re being sensible, and would urge the unions to be reasonable as well.
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"I have to say we will be resolute in response to this, because it would be irresponsible to allow public sector pay and inflation to get out of control, and we owe a wider duty to the public to make sure we keep our public finances under control and we build a growing economy that can pay for these things.”
He said the Government's door "is always open to engagement with the unions".
Mr Dowden added: "I would say to people across the private and the public sector… we’re trying to be reasonable, we’re trying to be proportionate and we’re trying to be fair.
“But in return, the unions need to be fair and reasonable. They should call off these strikes and give people a break,” adding: “We’re always willing to talk.”
He said the demands wage rises of 19 per cent wage would contribute to inflation and have negative long-term consequences.
"If we go for the kind of 19% that is being urged on us by the nursing unions, that is simply not affordable… if we applied this across the board, that would cost families £1,000 each and it would also add to inflation and make us all poorer in the long run," he said.
When challenged by the presenter on that figure, he that could even be "underestimating" the cost.
“What I can tell you is our number is justified on the basis of taking the inflation number, which is what the unions are asking for and projecting it forward to next year,” he said.
He denied the suggestion that the figure was inaccurate, saying: “I spent a lot of yesterday and the day before discussing exactly these numbers. These are robust numbers.”
