Wes Streeting says he wouldn’t meet the demands for nurses’ pay
While appearing on Preston in the continued battle to appear competent as Labour shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, has gone ahead and undermined nurses’ wage negotiations stating:
“Inflation plus 5% is not a sum I’d be able to afford if I was Health Secretary” By even suggesting this he has now placed the nurses in an extremely awkward position.
The Shadow Health Secretary Streeting went on to say he wouldn’t meet the RCN’s demands for nurses’ pay, adding that politicians shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep.
The situation now leaves nurses entering into negotiations with the Tories firmly on the back foot. Streeting has single-handedly undermined the nurses’ potion from day one. The Tories will just point to this video and tell nurses to rethink their position.
If Streeting felt he couldn’t pay the nurses their opening proposals that’s fair enough, but to publicly announce this has done nothing but undermine the strike action taking place.
Here’s another golden rule, politicians should learn to keep their naive gob shut…
This is yet another blow to sticking workers and striking nurses, in particular, the Labour party are showing a very disappointing attitude, one that has been compounded by Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to back nurses in their strike action.
In January this year, Labour’s shadow health secretary says he would not “shirk” from using private providers to reduce NHS waiting lists.
Wes Streeting told the BBC’s Nick Robinson it proved “effective” the last time his party was in power.
But he put the blame for needing the option at the Tories’ door, saying the government had “run down the NHS”.
