Boris lifesaver’s mum furious at ‘pitiful’ offer

Parents refuse consent Fears over fresh spike

BORIS Johnson’s snub on nurses’ pay was branded “pitiful” yesterday – by the mother of one of the nurses who saved his life.

Luis Pitarma, 30, was working at London’s St Thomas’s

Hospital last April when the

PM was ill in intensive care with coronavirus.

Speaking from her home in Aveiro, Portugal, Edite

Pitarma, right, said: “It seems pretty poor for public servants who are putting their own health at risk to help

others. My son and his ‘DEDICATION’: Boris with Luis colleagues are true professionals and should be properly paid for their hard work and dedication in such difficult times.”

Mr Johnson credited Luis and his colleague Jenny Mcgee with saving his life and said he was struggling “to find words to express my debt” to them.

He met the pair again last summer to thank them at Downing Street.

Unions are threatening to strike over the 1% pay rise, which adds just £3.50 a week to average pay packets.

Teachers are expected to carry out the first three tests on pupils.

Mary Bousted, leader of the National Education Union, warned last night that Mr Williamson’s plan was “unravelling”. And Independent SAGE scientist Dr Zubaida Haque said the Government had “passed the buck” on testing and “failed children and parents”.

Between March and December, there were 139 Covid-related deaths among teaching staff – and more have died since.

Reopening schools will bring nearly 10 million pupils and staff together. Secondaries can stagger the return over two weeks – meaning some pupils will have just ten days in class before the Easter break.

A poll by the Association of School and College Leaders found more than half of schools were struggling to get parental consent for testing.

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And an ITV survey of 200 secondaries revealed as few as 9% had consent rates above 95%. Some parents have said online they will not allow their child be tested unless they are present too.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College leaders, called the polls “worrying”.

One anonymous teacher told the Sunday People that the “vast majority” of parents at her east London secondary school had not given consent and she feared “falling back into the pattern from before Christmas with whole year groups being off”. And Vicki Coleman, whose sister died of Covid after returning to work at a college, said untested youngsters were “putting staff and students at risk”.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We encourage everyone to consent, following staff and students who have taken millions of tests while schools have been open to critical workers and vulnerable children.”