England (Commonwealth Union) – The nursing strike has currently placed the British government in an awkward position with a mixed views from the public, with many feeling that they deserve an increased pay for the hard work they put in, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdowns. However, with many patients awaiting surgeries and requiring urgent medical treatments, there are others holding the view that patients are being held hostage over the dispute.
The contentious issue also sparked a heated debate in Parliament between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer. The latter inquired why the PM will not engage with the striking nurses, and the former responded by indicating that they had consistently engaged with the nurses and they did get a pay rise of 3 percent as everyone else in the public sector saw a pay freeze. The Prime Minister further noted that the RCN request for further training of a £1,000 training budget was allocated to them with and the request for nurses’ bursaries which was met with each nursing student getting a £5,000 grant.
The Opposition Leader then raised the issue of a boy named Alex from Chester who was in line for a gall bladder operation and stopped school due to the pain and his mother was eagerly awaiting assurance from the PM. The PM responded by stating that it was not just Alex but millions of others had their health care disrupted.
“Now the honourable gentleman says to get round the table, but we all know what that means, that is just simply a political formula for avoiding taking a position on this issue,” the British leader said. “If he thinks the strikes are wrong, he should say so, if he thinks it’s right that pay demands of 19% are met, then he should say so. What’s weak is he is not strong enough to stand up to the union.”
The demand for a raise of 19% may seem unlikely with no clear support for the rate from the opposition as well however much of the public, bloggers and independent media out let’s have brought up Britain’s funding of the Ukraine war £2.3bn in 2022 in military aid. Attention has also been drawn on funds for diversity officers and others.
