10% pay rise for nurses ‘is unaffordable’
PAY rises in line with inflation for nurses and civil servants are “unaffordable”, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said.
Nurses are preparing to stage their first ever UK-wide strike next month, when 100,000 civil servants will take part in industrial action, and firefighters are also being balloted over walkouts.
But Mr Harper said there “simply isn’t the money” to award them increases of over 10%.
He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We haven’t seen those in the private sector either, which I accept is difficult.”
He said he is optimistic rail bosses “will have the ability to reach a deal” with unions to end train strikes, but said workers would need to accept reforms.