You gave £1bn to crackpots.. now cough up for our nurses
Labour bid to hammer PM in first Commons vote Strike talk as hundreds of angry NHS staff protest
JEREMY Corbyn will bid to reverse pay cuts for nurses in the wake of Theresa May’s shameless £1billion bung to strike her deal with the DUP.
In the first Commons vote of the new Parliament, Labour will today seek to rewrite the Queen’s Speech to end the cap on public sector pay rises and force a U-turn on devastating cuts to police, fire and ambulance services.
But Tory MPs will be ordered to vote against the plan – two days after the Prime Minister cemented her Coalition of Crackpots with the mega-payment.
Damning research has revealed some NHS workers are taking payday loans, pawning belongings and using foodbanks to survive. Others are quitting to work in supermarkets for better pay.
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “It is shameful that Theresa May can find an extra £1billion for her coalition deal but can’t find an extra penny for hard-working nurses and NHS staff. Nurses are being forced to use foodbanks and NHS Providers say staff are quitting to stack shelves. The Health Secretary says he has sympathy – but sympathy won’t put food on the table.”
Mr Corbyn added: “Labour has a different approach, which values those who look after us and will transform Britain for the many, not the few.”
NHS pay rises have been capped at 1% or less since 2010 under brutal Tory austerity. It has meant a 14% real-terms pay cut for nursing staff, who are now at least £3,000 a year worse off. Unions have warned Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt it also puts patient safety at risk as 40,000 nursing jobs cannot be filled.
Yet Mrs May has vowed to press ahead with the cap for the rest of the Parliament. During the election campaign, she told a nurse on Question Time there is “no magic money tree we can shake” to find extra cash. Yet a month later, the PM found £1billion for Northern Ireland.
Yesterday, hundreds of nurses took to the streets in protest at the Department of Health HQ in London and 30 other NHS locations around the country.
Amina Ahmed, 34, a paediatric nurse at Lewisham Hospital, South London, said: “If it wasn’t for friends and family I would be going to a foodbank. I find it
personal because I have four kids and we have one bedroom between four of us. Nobody is listening to us.”
Peter Dunham, 30, a first year nursing student, added: “The issues are affecting patient care and safety. I don’t think you can compromise on them. People can’t afford to work and live near to hospitals.”
The Royal College of Nursing is threatening to ballot for strikes after a poll said nine out of 10 members would back the move. Chief Janet Davies said: “Hours after nursing staff have staged protests in 30 towns, MPs will have the first opportunity to show they are listening.”
Labour will urge opposition parties and disgruntled Tories to back the amendment today. Only seven Tory MPs would need to vote with Labour for the PM to suffer a potentially fatal defeat.
South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen yesterday became the first Tory to voice discontent at the PM’s plan. She tweeted: “New DUP cash must surely mean funding will be urgently reviewed for pub sector wages, schools, social care, Universal Credit across UK too?”
The Lib Dems support ending the cap and unions welcomed Labour’s amendment. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Politicians of all parties have praised the efforts of public sector workers over the past few months. This vote gives MPs a chance to show they mean what they’ve said.”
Labour’s amendment will also call on the Government to “recruit more police officers and firefighters”.
Some 20,000 frontline police have been axed since 2010 and 10,000 firefighters – a decision questioned by MPs following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.