NHS walkouts off in Wales but No10 says no talks to avert strikes in England
Downing Street was today unable to name a single step being taken to prevent thousands of nurses and ambulance workers going on strike next week - despite walkouts in Wales being scrapped.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will again walk out on Monday and Tuesday in England, while GMB members employed by the ambulance service will strike on Monday.
But both unions have cancelled action in Wales after talks with the Welsh government.
Quizzed on whether the government plans any last-minute talks in an effort to reach a deal, a No10 spokesman said the onus was on unions to "get around the table".
It comes despite huge public support for a better pay deal for health workers.
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This afternoon the unions announced their action had been suspended in Wales to allow further negotiations with the Welsh government.
But England remains in deadlock.
Downing Street was unable to name a single thing it was doing to stop strikes on Monday (Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: “If the other governments can negotiate and find more money for this year, the Prime Minister can do the same. Rishi Sunak has no place left to hide. His unwillingness to help nursing is being exposed as a personal choice, not an economic necessity.
“Again, we are making good on our commitment to cancel strikes when ministers negotiate and make pay offers to our members. First in Scotland and now in Wales too.
“If the Prime Minister decides to leave England’s nurses as the lowest paid in the UK, he must expect this strike to continue. He can still turn things around before Monday – start talking seriously and the strikes are off.”
A No10 spokesman said: "The Prime Minister believes that the way to resolve these disputes is talking, we want to encourage unions to get around the table without inflicting the disruption we've seen on the British people.
"Our focus will be on mitigating the disruption caused by the strikes."
He said that the Education Secretary and Health Secretary had held talks earlier this week, but did not say any more were scheduled.
Asked whether the government's plan was to wait for unions to give up, the spokesman said: "No, I wouldn't characterise it like that.
"We want to see unions continue to talk with their employers."
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An ambulance service strike has been called off in Wales - but not in England (PA)Members of the GMB were due to walk out in Wales and England on Monday alongside members of other unions.
The GMB said its action has been suspended in Wales to allow further negotiations with the Welsh Government.
The union said the proposed deal amounts to both a consolidated and non-consolidated one-off payment for 22/23 - on top of an increase of 4.5% which has already been paid.
GMB official Nathan Holman said: "After intense negotiations, GMB has agreed to suspend strike action while further talks take place.
"We recognise that the Welsh Government and Welsh Ambulance have made concessions and, through social partnership, we appreciate the frank and open dialogue with them over the last few months.
"This has only been made possible because the Welsh Government has been prepared to talk about pay - a lesson for those in charge on the other side of the Severn Bridge."
Last night Rishi Sunak doubled down on not coming up with a better offer for NHS staff.
He told Piers Morgan: “Nurses should be an exception [to public-service pay restraint] and that’s because they do an incredible job for all of us and they demonstrated that during the pandemic.
“I’m really grateful to them for that, and you’re right I grew up in an NHS family. So this does burn deeply inside me.
“I would love to give nurses a massive pay rise. Who wouldn’t? Certainly that would make my life easier, wouldn’t it?”
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