'If the PM can freeze fuel duty, he can give NHS workers a decent pay rise'

14 April 2023 , 21:06

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Rishi Sunak’s claim that any further increase is unaffordable doesn't wash (Image: PA)

The Royal College of Nursing’s rejection of the Government’s pay offer shows the depth of anger felt by its members.

Nurses in England know they are worth more than the 5% pay rise grudgingly put forward by Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

The proposed amount was clearly inadequate when inflation is more than 10%.

It also failed to recognise that nurses’ pay has fallen by 7.4% in real terms since 2010.

The Government will inevitably try to play divide and rule between the RCN and Unison, whose members have accepted the pay offer.

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But ministers’ time would be better spent trying to resolve this dispute sensibly.

Rishi Sunak’s claim that any further increase is unaffordable does not wash.

If the Prime Minister can find £6billion to freeze fuel duty, he can find the money to give NHS workers the pay rise they deserve. If he truly valued the NHS, he would value its staff.

Poor lose out

Because of the war in Ukraine, giant energy firms are rolling in record profits.

Meanwhile, their customers suffer.

Households on prepayment meters are lumbered with an estimated £1billion of debt.

They are the victims of our broken energy market, which until recently allowed firms to force their way into homes to install meters and then charge more for the service.

Families that were already struggling on low incomes have been the hardest-hit.

They now face even greater penury as they try to pay back the money owed, at a time when food and fuel prices are still rising.

There are few starker illustrations of how unequal Britain has become.

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As the firms count their dividends, the poor are left counting their debts.

Safe bets best

God luck to readers having a flutter on the Grand National today.

Here’s hoping your horse is not a faller at the first – and that animal rights campaigners’ concerns turn out to be unjustified.

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