‘Thanks for the kick in the teeth’
NURSES will take to the streets across Britain to protest the Tory pay snub – branded “a slap for carers”.
Demonstrations will be held in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh next month after nurses and other health heroes were denied pay rises.
“Protest for Pay” marches are also being organised in Newcastle, Leeds and Bristol on August 8.
As a petition demanding a U-turn from Chancellor Rishi Sunak last night passed 86,000 signatures, exhausted frontline nurses hit out over the “kick to the teeth”.
Sex health expert Sarah Mulindwa – star of Channel 4’s The Sex Clinic – put her TV career on hold to care for Covid-19 patients.
The 34-year-old, who returned to work at Chelsea and Westminster hospital, London, said: “Never mind clap for carers – this is a slap for carers.
“The very same health and care workers snubbed by Mr Sunak have laid their lives on the line to protect our elderly and vulnerable for months. They deserve more than a thank you and round of applause.”
Kirsty Brewerton, 33, learned of Mr Sunak’s decision while on an understaffed ward at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. In a letter to PM Boris Johnson, she said: “Thank you so much for the relentless kicks to the teeth, it really has made the time and effort spent fighting a pandemic all the more worthwhile. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more valued or appreciated. Cheers.
“Yesterday whilst I was running a ward with five members of staff less than I should have had, it was announced that we weren’t deserving of a pay rise. It was as if you put my tired, deflated balloon of a soul in a shredder. Not content with sucking the life out of us slowly, you wanted to make sure you really did the job.
“After the sacrifices we’ve made, not just during Covid but for years prior, it is so incredibly disrespectful and demoralising.”
The PM’s spokesman said nurses would get an “average” 4.4 per cent rise this year under Theresa May’s 2018 Agenda for Change.