Inside Politics: Nurse strike

Nurses join picket lines in unprecedented strike action, writes Matt Mathers

(REUTERS)

Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Nurses take unprecedented strike action today. Later, the Bank of England will make another announcement on interest rates.

Inside the bubble

MPs will mark the 80th anniversary of the declaration on the persecution of Jews during World War II with a minute’s silence in the Commons at 9.30 am. Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are expected to attend, with five survivors of the Holocaust watching on in the Speaker’s Gallery. After that there is international trade questions, before Penny Mordaunt gives the weekly business statement. There will be a backbench motion on pre-payment fuel meters and a general debate on the West Coast Main Line.

Daily briefing

Walkouts

Nurses in central London have already started joining picket lines this morning as tens of thousands of their colleagues across England, Wales and Northern Ireland strike for the first time ever in a row over pay and conditions.

Thousands of NHS appointments and operations have been cancelled because of the 12-hour walkout, with the health service running a bank holiday-style service in many areas. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will still staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care.

Today’s strikes go ahead after the RCN and the government failed to reach an agreement on pay. Nurses are asking for a pay rise of 5 per cent above inflation. Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said those demands are unaffordable and unreasonable.

He has repeatedly said the government is sticking to the recommendations of the independent pay review body, which said nurses should get a pay rise of around £1,400. The independent pay review body makes recommendations to the government, which ultimately decides whether or not to accept them.

Pat Cullen, the RCN general secretary, accused Barclay of “belligerence” after he refused to discuss the issue of pay earlier in the week. Another round of industrial action has been scheduled for 20 December and last night Cullen warned that the walkouts could continue into next year if no progress is made.

The strikes dominated exchanges between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer at PMQs yesterday. The Labour leader accused the PM of “playing games with people’s health”. Sunak hit back by saying Starmer was not strong enough to stand up to unions as he urged him to say whether the RCN’s pay demands were reasonable.

(REUTERS)

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Mortgage pain

It feels as though everywhere you look at the minute there is bad news and more is expected later when the Bank of England hikes interest rates again in a bid to tame run-away inflation.

Prospective homebuyers and those already with mortgages face further misery, with the Bank expected to raise the base rate – for the ninth time in a row – by 0.5 per cent.

Today’s announcement comes after official figures on Wednesday showed inflation eased by more than expected, to 10.7 per cent in November from October’s 41-year high of 11.1 per cent.

While encouraging, economists believe it will not be enough to stay the Bank’s hand in the face of mounting inflationary pressures – in particular as wages continue to rise.

Data earlier this week showed regular pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 6.1 per cent in the three months to October – a record outside of the pandemic – as firms are under increasing pressure to increase earnings.

Today’s cartoon

See all of The Independent’s daily cartoons here

(Dave Brown)

On the record

Pat Cullen, RCN general secretary, says strike action could continue next year.

“There will be a second day on 20 December and unless we have talks and unless we are able to negotiate on behalf of my members then I’m afraid to say that’s a very strong possibility and already we will be starting to look at when those dates could be. I’m afraid that they will continue into January.”

From the Twitterati

Paul Waugh, i chief politics commentator, on immigration.

“If Rishi Sunak follows Boris Johnson’s calls to pull out of the ECHR, his risks looking both impotent and incompetent on immigration.”

Essential reading

• Tom Peck, The Independent: It’s Christmas next week – Suella Braverman better get a move on
• Salma Shah, The Independent: I’m a Muslim who loves Christmas – don’t rename the holiday on my account
• David Aaronovitch, The Times: Lynch should know every question is legitimate
• Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic: China’s war against Taiwan has already started

Inside Politics first appeared in our daily morning email. You can sign up via this link.