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Nurses’ pay not our top NHS priority, PM admits to Piers Morgan

Rishi Sunak insists ‘massive’ pay rise for nurses is not possible amid competing demands for healthcare spending and fears about fuelling inflation
Prime minister Rishi Sunak during TV interview with Piers Morgan

Rishi Sunak insists ‘massive’ pay rise for nurses is not possible amid competing demands for healthcare spending and fears about fuelling inflation

Prime minister Rishi Sunak during TV interview with Piers Morgan
The prime minister, speaking in his flat in Number 10 Picture: TalkTV

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has ruled out giving nurses a ‘massive pay rise’ because the money needs to be prioritised for other NHS services.

Speaking to Piers Morgan on 2 February, Mr Sunak said the issue ‘burns deeply’ in him and he was grateful to nurses for their ‘incredible work’ during the pandemic. But he insisted large pay settlements would fuel inflation.

‘I would love to give the nurses a massive pay rise. Who wouldn’t? It would certainly make my life easier wouldn’t it?’ he said.

‘But it is about choices. Right now, money going to the NHS is the biggest it has ever been, but we have to put that in lots of different places. We need to hire more doctors, more nurses… and we’re doing all that.’

‘Unfortunately very large pay settlements make the inflation problem worse and last longer, and that’s not going to help anyone, including nurses.’

Nursing bursary, training funding and hospital car parking

Mr Morgan stated the profession needed to become more attractive for people to join it.

‘You’ve got to make them think there’s an environment worth working in, that they’re going to actually be treated in the way we treated them during the pandemic with all our applauding,’ he said.

The prime minister said there was help available for nurses, including £5,000 a year training bursary and a £1,000 training budget for newly qualified nurses.

Mr Morgan pressed him on car parking charges, highlighting that nurses in England were having to pay up to £1,000 a year to park at hospitals, while counterparts in Wales and Scotland pay nothing.

Mr Sunak agreed to look at car parking costs but did not say they should be waived, as happened during the pandemic.

‘I would love it if people had to pay less to get to work, of course I would,’ he said. ‘That’s why we’ve put measures in place and more funding to ease the burden of hospital car parking.’

The prime minister’s comments come just days before nurses join picket lines to demand better pay and working conditions.


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