The Government has been urged to give NHS and social care workers a higher pay rise – with the one per cent promised in the 2021 Budget described as a "kick in the teeth".
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has pledged to raise the wages of doctors and nurses by one per cent as a thank you for their work on the front line of the Covid-19 fight.
But unions and the Labour Party have criticised the Government over what they said was a kick in the teeth for the lifesavers.
Councillor Stephen Barnes, chairman of the West Cumbria Liberal Democrats said: “I am extremely disappointed that the Government can only find one per cent. However the overwhelming scandal is this Government’s total failure to address the extreme crisis in social care which it has created through years of neglect and underfunding.”