Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden has urged the Health Unions to call off their strikes in an interview with the BBC this morning
Dowden told the programme that the pay demand put down by unions was not affordable and instead asked the unions to follow the independent pay review process in order to get a stronger economy, that will allow the government to deliver pay rises.
He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the £28bn figure quoted by the government if they were to give the nursing unions the 19% pay rise they’re asking for may be an underestimation
“We owe it to the public to keep public finances under control”. adding
“Our number is justified on the basis of taking the inflation number, what the unions are asking for, and projecting it forward to next year, that would cost about £28bn and that’s £1,000 per household,” Dowden told her
Responding to the interview the Lib Dem’s tweeted
“In the week before Christmas we need more humanity not less from Oliver Dowden and his Government. Sitting down with the nurses and discussing pay is the obvious move right now. Instead he is playing scare tactics with the public and playing politics with the strikes.”
