Rishi Sunak refuses to give NHS nurses extra cash despite Tory pressure and threats of more strikes

16 December 2022, 16:38

Rishi Sunak has refused to boost nurses' pay, despite up to 100,000 joining strikes yesterday, Tory pressure and unions warning of even more chaos in the weeks ahead.

The Prime Minister insisted the government's four per cent pay offer is both "appropriate and fair". The Royal College of Nursing, which coordinated the NHS's biggest ever strike yesterday, wants a 19 per cent rise.

Yesterday tens of thousands of operations were cancelled due to the nurses walkout. Another round of strikes are planned for Tuesday.

Speaking on a visit to Belfast, Mr Sunak said: "The Health Secretary has always been clear, the door is always open, that's always been the case.'

"But we want to be fair, reasonable and constructive. That's why we accepted the recommendations of an independent pay body about what fair pay would be."

His comments come after four senior Tories urged Mr Sunak to back down.

Some called for the NHS pay review body to rethink their recommended deal as a way out of the stalemate suggesting that the pay rise was made before the war in Ukraine and inflation crisis hit.

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Conservative chairman of the Commons Health Committee Steve Brine has argued that the move would be an "elegant" and "sensible" way to avert further strikes.

A total of 44 trusts across in all UK nations apart from Scotland yesterday ran a 'Christmas Day service'.

Cancer patients were among those denied care after the RCN called the first national strike in its 106-year history.