‘Bogus’ Labour motion to abolish NHS pay cap wins vote in Commons
MPs backed a call to end the current pay cap on NHS staff yesterday.
The Government chose not to contest the nonbinding Labour motion after their Democratic Unionist allies made clear they would support it.
However, Tory sources insisted they were “relaxed” about the outcome of the debate, which does not actually require the Government to change policy.
During the debate Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called the motion “bogus”.
DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said the motion was not covered by the arrangement agreed by the two parties after Theresa May’s majority was wiped out in June’s general election.
Discipline
He said: “Lifting the cap on nurses’ pay and in the public sector generally is our party policy.
“The Government understood that is the way we were going to vote.
“It is not part of the confidence and supply arrangements.
“We are separate parties, not part of the Government, and we will make up our own mind on those issues.”
Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth declared: “It’s extremely rare for the Government not to vote down an opposition motion.
“The only explanation is it avoided a vote because it knew it would lose.”
The vote came the day after ministers effectively ended the pay cap with the announcement of rises above one per cent for police and prison officers.
Mr Hunt said: “The consequences of losing financial discipline for a government are not just pay freezes and one per cent caps but a million unemployed as a result of the recession post 2008.
“Every Labour government in modern times has left office with unemployment at a higher level than when it arrived.
“That is why this afternoon’s motion is bogus.
“Because the difference between this side of the House and that side of the House is not about a desire to invest in public services, it is the ability to deliver a strong economy so we can make that investment.”
Mr Hunt also told MPs that he agreed it was “incredibly important to have motivated staff,” that it was “critical for patient safety” to have enough staff and that it is “very tough on the front line” at the moment.
But he said it was “absolute nonsense” that the one per cent cap over the last seven years was an “ideological mission” on behalf of the Tories to “reduce the size of the state”.
The debate came as firefighters rejected a two per cent pay offer, claiming it included a “whole host of strings”.
Uncertainty
Members of the Fire Brigades Union were consulted on the proposed deal which broke the Government’s cap on public sector pay.
The union said a lack of clarity in the employers’ proposals, uncertainty about funding arrangements and concerns about the details of some new areas of work all contributed to members deciding not to accept the offer.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU, said: “Firefighters, along with all other public sector workers, have suffered hugely as a result of the Government’s pay policy.
“The offer fails to clearly address the pain our members have experienced as a result of years of falling real wages.”