Andrew Marr: nurses' pay demands pose a genuine conundrum for top Tories'

13 December 2022, 18:15

Balancing striking nurses' demands for a huge nominal pay rise with the reality of tens of thousands of NHS workers leaving the service poses a "genuine, grown-up conundrum for the Conservatives, Andrew Marr has said.

Speaking on Tonight with Andrew Marr on Tuesday ahead of an exclusive interview with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Andrew said that the nursing pay dispute "isn't something we should drop".

Members of the Royal College of Nursing are set to go on strike on Thursday and next Tuesday for the first time in their history, after pay talks with the government broke down.

The nurses want a 19% pay rise, and ministers have countered that NHS salaries are decided by an independent pay review.

Speaking on Tuesday evening, Andrew said: "Being in government comes with some important privileges. One of them is the agenda - setting the agenda - You can decide what everyone will be talking about, what's going to be on every front page and lead every bulletin. Not always, but often. 

The NHS is in 'genuine crisis', Andrew Marr declares

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"And today Number 10 has decided that we will be talking about new curbs on illegal migrants, particularly Albanians. Fair enough, I will talk about that later in the show. But journalists also have a duty to decide for themselves what's most important and to try not to be distracted.

"And it seems to me that what I was talking about yesterday - will the government negotiate seriously to stop the NHS strikes? -  isn't quite yet something we should simply drop. Well, in one way, we know the answer. There were no substantive talks yesterday evening and the strikes will go ahead."

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He added: "We know the government's argument, that the nurses pay demands are too inflationary to afford, even though they've lost about a fifth of their real incomes since 2010. But we also know that the NHS is in genuine crisis – 25,000 nurses left the profession last year and unfilled places in England alone are now at around 47,000. 

'It's true that voters won't thank ministers if inflation is still such a problem this time next year. but it's also true they won't thank them if the NHS starts to fall down. 

'So this is a genuine, grown-up conundrum for leading Conservatives and I can't think of a single individual better placed to discuss it, than the Chancellor of the Exchequer and former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt."