NHS pay rise ‘as much as we can give’

THE Government has tried to give NHS staff “as much as we possibly can” after recommending a 1% pay rise, the Prime Minister has said.

The proposal has sparked talk of industrial action and demonstrations took place in Manchester and elsewhere yesterday, with senior Conservatives also speaking out.

An Opinium poll carried out on Friday and Saturday suggested as much as 72% of the population think the wage recommendation is too low, including 58% of Tory voters.

Boris Johnson defended the decision, however, during a visit yesterday to a vaccination centre in Brent in north London.

The Prime Minister told broadcasters: “I’m massively grateful to all NHS staff and indeed to social care workers who have been heroic throughout the pandemic. What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time.

“The independent pay review body will obviously look at what we’ve proposed and come back. Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze – we’re in pretty tough times.”

FOUR men have been arrested following a shooting in Dublin in left a man and a woman seriously injured in hospital.

The incident happened at an apartment in Inchicore in the south of the city on Saturday. Four men, in their 20s and 30s, are being questioned by police under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.

A 30-year-old woman was taken to hospital and was in a critical condition, while a man in his early 30s was in a serious condition in hospital yesterday.