PMQs: Nurses strike is a badge of shame, Starmer tells Sunak - BBC

The largest onslaught enactment taken by nurses successful the NHS's past is "a badge of shame", Labour person Sir Keir Starmer told Rishi Sunak astatine Prime Minister's Questions.

The Labour person said Mr Sunak was successful "hibernation" alternatively of moving to telephone disconnected Thursday's strike.

Sir Keir urged the PM to clasp talks with nurses to resoluteness the wage dispute.

But Mr Sunak said nurses had a "fair" wage woody and his authorities had engaged with each unions.

Nurses successful England, Wales and Northern Ireland are acceptable to onslaught connected 15 and 20 December aft 2 days of concern enactment was announced by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union.

The national is calling for a wage emergence of 19.2%, but the authorities says this is unaffordable, and that it has met autarkic recommendations connected pay.

Labour has besides said it would not beryllium capable to spend the union's request but would beryllium consenting to conscionable and negociate to debar a strike.

A gathering betwixt the national and Health Secretary Steve Barclay ended successful deadlock connected Tuesday, with the RCN condemning ministers' "belligerence" for refusing to sermon pay.

Nurses volition inactive supply exigency care, but regular services volition beryllium affected by the strikes.

Downing Street has called connected the RCN to "listen" to concerns of nursing leaders astir the level of attraction provided during planned strikes.

Dame Ruth May, main nursing serviceman for England, and her counterparts successful Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, person written to the RCN raising concerns astir diligent safety, including chemotherapy being rescheduled from onslaught days astatine immoderate hospitals, contempt the national agreeing it would beryllium exempt nationally.

A gathering of the government's exigency Cobra committee took spot connected Wednesday greeting arsenic ministers discussed contingency plans to woody with the fallout from strikes crossed health, transport and different sectors.

In the last PMQs of the year, Sir Keir said Mr Sunak needed to "open the doorway and sermon pay" with the nurses' national to avert the strikes.

"If helium did, the full state would respire a suspiration of relief. Why won't he?" the Labour person asked.

Mr Sunak insisted his authorities had "consistently spoken to each the unions progressive successful each the wage disputes", arsenic strikes are planned successful assorted sectors implicit winter.

The premier curate said helium wanted to "put it connected grounds what we've done for nurses", adding that portion different public-sector workers got a wage frost past year, nurses received a 3% rise.

But Sir Keir said nurses going connected onslaught "is a badge of shame for this government".

"Instead of showing leadership, helium is playing games with people's wellness and determination is simply a quality cost," helium said.

While acknowledging disruption to care, the premier curate said the authorities was lasting by the offers recommended by the autarkic wage reappraisal body.

He claimed the strikes were "Labour's nightmare earlier Christmas" due to the fact that of the party's links with the unions.

In response, Sir Keir said Mr Sunak was "pretending everything is fine".

"After 12 years of Tory failure, wintertime has arrived for our nationalist services, and we've got a premier curate who has curled up successful a shot and gone into hibernation," helium said.

The SNP's Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, followed the Labour leader, calling connected the PM to instrumentality "the Scottish government's lead" connected dealing with public-sector strikes.

In reply, Mr Sunak said the wellness caput and different ministers had "engaged fully, not conscionable with the unions but with an autarkic pay-setting process".

Liberal Democrat person Sir Ed Davey focused connected the "dreadful crab backlog" and asked the PM to warrant it would not get worse.

Sir Ed - who mislaid some of his parents to crab arsenic a kid - said "40% of crab patients present hold much than 2 months for treatment".

Responding, Mr Sunak said "cancer attraction rates successful the astir caller months for which we person information are present backmost astatine pre-pandemic levels", with plans successful spot to fast-track investigating for the disease.

At PMQs, the premier curate and the Labour person clashed implicit the nurses' onslaught and the NHS.

Labour's Keir Starmer said: "Ask anyone successful the NHS, they'll archer you they don't person capable unit - 133,000 vacancies."

According to the latest data, determination were 133,446 full-time equivalent vacancies successful NHS England successful September - a vacancy complaint of 9.7%.

Nursing vacancies accounted for 47,496 of that wide fig - with a vacancy complaint of 11.9% successful this sector.

In December 2019, earlier the pandemic, the full NHS vacancy complaint was 8.1%.