"If the Tories can find the money to cut taxes for bankers, they should give nurses a pay rise"

Health Secretary Steve Barclay should be doing all he can to stop the strikes from continuing - but instead he says that a pay rise for nurses is "unaffordable"< /p> NHS nurses are asking for a pay rise (

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When nurses can't afford to take the bus to work and turn to food banks to feed their families, it's obvious they need a raise.

Low pay is one of the reasons why 40,000 nurses, or one in nine staff, left the NHS last year.

The RCN in England is now taking industrial action for the first time in its 106-year history because Tory ministers have refused to acknowledge their plight.

It is shameful that the MRC was forced to take this action. Health Secretary Steve Barclay should do everything he can to stop the strikes from continuing.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay arrives for a visit to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital last week (

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Instead of seeking urgent talks with the unions, he has heightened tensions by rejecting their demands. He says the hike is "unaffordable".

It's not a question of cost but of priorities.

If Chancellor Jeremy Hunt can find the money to cut bankers' taxes, he can find the money to raise nurses' salaries.

If Tories valued the NHS, they would appreciate the staff who put their lives at risk during Covid and work every day to care for patients.

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