Senior figures in the Government have begun to take a position on the planned nurses’ strikes across a majority of NHS employers in the UK, as announced by the RCN earlier this week.
The Government has said it will continue to hold discussions with the unions and seems keen to avoid a nurses’ strike, but senior figures have been largely dismissive of the RCN’s pay demands.
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Mr Sunak said that although he shared ‘everyone’s respect and gratitude for our nurses’, he also added that ‘where we are now is that the unions are asking for a 17% pay rise – and I think most people watching will recognise that clearly that’s not affordable’.

Mr Barclay also said in a statement that the union’s pay demands ‘are around three times what millions of people outside the public sector will typically receive and simply aren’t reasonable or affordable’.
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Elsewhere in government, Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris also expressed scepticism over the RCN’s pay demands.
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