Labour wouldn’t meet nurses’ 19% pay demand as health spokesman says any offer needs to come with condition of NHS reform

• Wes Streeting pledged Labour would take on vested interests in health service
• The Labour MP said that the NHS should be treated as ‘a service, not a shrine’
• He warned he would not tolerate a ‘something-for-nothing culture in the NHS’ 

Labour would not meet nurses’ pay demands, the party’s health spokesman said yesterday as he warned the NHS had to ‘reform or die’.

Wes Streeting said he would be prepared to discuss pay with the Royal College of Nursing but the union’s demand for rises of 5 per cent above inflation – said by ministers to amount to 19 per cent – was ‘not one that I would be able to meet’.

He also hit out at the British Medical Association (BMA), whose junior doctor members are balloting for strikes, describing the union as ‘hostile’.

Wes Streeting said he would be prepared to discuss pay with the Royal College of Nursing but the union’s demand for rises of 5 per cent above inflation – said by ministers to amount to 19 per cent – was ‘not one that I would be able to meet’

Mr Streeting pledged Labour would take on vested interests in the health service, warning the NHS must ‘reform or die’ despite Labour’s reliance on funding from the sector’s unions.

And he said the NHS should be treated as ‘a service, not a shrine’ and warned he would not tolerate a ‘something-for-nothing culture in the NHS’. The Labour MP said the system was facing an ‘existential crisis’ that had left patients with ‘appalling’ problems accessing care.

‘Given that we have committed to more staff, I cannot for the life of me understand why the BMA is so hostile to the idea that with more staff must come better standards for patients.

‘Whenever I point out the appalling state of access to primary care, where currently a record two million people are waiting more than a month to see a GP, I am treated like some sort of heretic by the BMA – who seem to think any criticism of patient access to primary care is somehow an attack on GPs,’ he told The Sunday Telegraph.

He said the NHS should be treated as ‘a service, not a shrine’ and warned he would not tolerate a ‘something-for-nothing culture in the NHS’

Dr Emma Runswick, of the BMA, said his comments were ‘incredibly disappointing’. She said the ‘whole NHS is in crisis’, adding: ‘The anger for that crisis should be directed squarely at the Government and their failure to invest, not at those who work in the NHS or the unions who represent them.

‘It wasn’t so long ago Mr Streeting and the Labour Party were clapping healthcare workers for their contributions during the pandemic, so to hear them now accusing staff of a “something-for-nothing” culture and potentially supporting further real-terms pay cuts will leave many staff extremely concerned.’

A Government source last night urged Labour to be transparent about its stance on pay rises. ‘If Labour want to override the system of independent pay settlements that is up to them, but they need to be upfront about how much they are willing to pay and what it will cost taxpayers,’ the source said.

Mr Streeting blamed ministers for inflaming the dispute, saying they were ‘spoiling for a fight’.

Source: Read Full Article