Starmer backs bigger pay rise for NHS 'heroes'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the government to give NHS ‘heroes’ a bigger pay rise than the one per cent increase planned for next year.

The government is recommending a one per cent increase for NHS staff in England next year, with the Department of Health and Social Care suggesting that any award above that would require cuts to services with a ‘reprioritisation’ of funding.

However, unions have been quick to criticise the ‘pitiful’ rise, with the Royal College of Nursing calculating that the proposed rise would result in an increase of just £3.50 a week in take-home pay for an experienced nurse. The RCN has been calling for a 12.5 per cent increase to take into account ‘the years we haven't had a pay increase’.

The British Medical Association has also highlighted how the planned rise would come as a ‘kick in the teeth’ after a decade in which doctors had experienced real-terms pay cuts of up to 30 per cent.

Now, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has added his voice to the dismay, saying that it would amount to a cut in real-terms, tweeting: "You can't rebuild a country by cutting nurses' pay."