next week, labour s leader tried to pin the blame on the prime minister. in the 13 years of the last labour government, there were no national nhs strikes. if the prime minister had negotiated with the nurses before christmas, they wouldn t be on strike. if he had negotiated with the ambulance workers, they wouldn t be on strike either. so why is he choosing to prolong the misery, rather than end these strikes? prime minister! mr speaker, we ve always been clear that we want constructive dialogue with the unions. that is also why, when it comes to the issue of pay, we have accepted in full the independent recommendations of the pay review bodies. the honourable gentleman simply doesn t have a policy when it comes to this question. the political scrap over strikes is escalating. the government sketched out plans to enforce minimum levels of service during industrial action an idea labour opposes. his response to the greatest crisis in the history of the nhs is to threaten to sack our
his transport secretary says it s not the solution. his education secretary hopes it won t apply in schools. his own assessments say it could increase the number of strikes. the simple truth is, you can t legislate your way out of 13 years of failure. this is a simple proposition, that no one denies the unions freedom to strike, but it is also important to balance that with people s right to have access to life saving health care at the same time. mr speaker, this shouldn t be controversial. but the plans won t have any impact on the current strikes. talks between unions and ministers over pay look stuck, so the disruption goes on. ben wright, bbc news, westminster.
over pay look stuck, so the disruption goes on. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. and benjoins us now from westminster. good to have you with us, ben. as we saw, a lot of words expended on the strikes in the house of commons, is there any end in sight? ihlat strikes in the house of commons, is there any end in sight? there any end in sight? not at the moment, rebecca. there any end in sight? not at the moment, rebecca. i there any end in sight? not at the moment, rebecca. ithink- there any end in sight? not at the moment, rebecca. i think there l there any end in sight? not at the i moment, rebecca. i think there was a smidgen of optimism, hope, that the two sides, particularly in the health dispute, were at least talking about pay when there were those meetings on monday, but that seems to have dissipated since, and today some health unions have said that they were withdrawing from the whole independent pay review process, because theyjust didn“t process, because theyjust didn
you can t legislate your way out of 13 years of failure. this is a simple proposition, that no one denies the unions freedom to strike, but it is also important to balance that with people s right to have access to life saving health care at the same time. mr speaker, this shouldn t be controversial. but the plans won t have any impact on the current strikes. talks between unions and ministers over pay look stuck, so the disruption goes on. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. leaders of rail unions say a resolution to their ongoing dispute over pay, conditions and jobs is a long way off. however, rail company bosses say they are more optimistic about the prospect of a deal. mps have been questioning bosses from the rmt, aslef and tssa unions this morning as well as representatives from network rail and the rail delivery group. they union leaders were asked by
in scotland, exams are being rescheduled as secondary teachers strike in their dispute about pay. some preliminary exams have been affected. unions are asking for a 10% pay increase. the scottish government says that s unaffordable. it follows a strike by primary school teachers yesterday, also over pay. six people have been injured in a stabbing attack at the gare du nord train station in paris. one of the victims is in a critical condition. the suspect is now in hospital after being shot three times by off duty police officers who were returning home after a night shift. the motive for the attack isn t yet clear. prince harry has denied he boasted about killing 25 taliban fighters when he was a helicopter pilot in afghanistan. he s been criticised for writing about the killings in his memoir, where he referred