hello, i m lucy hockings. finland is set to officiallyjoin nato on tuesday tomorrow. the country applied to join the military alliance in the wake of vladimir putin s invasion of ukraine the finnish border with russia is over 1300km long, and nato leaders are hoping finland s accession will improve the overall security provided by the alliance. turkey was the last of nato s members to accept finland s application last month, clearing path for the blue cross on a white background to join 30 otherflags outside nato headquarters in brussels. this is a historic week. tomorrow, we will welcome finland as the 31st member of nato, making finland safer and our alliance stronger. we will raise the finnish flag, for the first time, here at the nato headquarters. it will be a good day for finland s security, for nordic security and for nato as a whole. a defence correspondentjonathan beale has more on the significance of this. it is beale has more on the significance of this. it is
the government described its offer as fair and reasonable. a £1,000 one off cash payment for this year, and a 4.3% pay rise for most staff from september. that s on top of the introduction of a £30,000 starting salary for new teachers. talks have stalled though, and ministers now say the pay review body will make a decision on teachers salaries. it previously recommended a 3% rise. we re asking for an inflation proof pay rise, but we re willing to negotiate on that. what we are not prepared to accept, and none of the teachers unions have accepted, the offer that the government has made. it simply won t address the problems we re facing. another classroom teaching union, and the two head teachers unions, are also currently balloting members over strike action. along with the neu, they say any future dates will be coordinated, which means schools could close again in the coming months. labour and the lib dems have called on the government to reopen negotiations. this but as the stal
talks have stalled though, and ministers now say the pay review body will make a decision on teachers salaries. it previously recommended a 3% rise. we re asking for an inflation proof pay rise, but we re willing to negotiate on that. what we are not prepared to accept, and none of the teachers unions have accepted, the offer that the government has made. it simply won t address the problems we re facing. another classroom teaching union, and the two head teachers unions, are also currently balloting members over strike action. along with the neu, they say any future dates will be coordinated, which means schools could close again in the coming months. labour and the lib dems have called on the government to reopen negotiations. but as the stalemate continues, more industrial action remains a real possibility. kristian johnson, bbc news. we can speak now to our chief political correspondent, nick eardley. after a ll after all these months of industrial
we ve 23 teachers out of the 25 that are part of the neu union. i think my parents are really, really supportive. they realise that the teachers generally, but certainly the teachers here at parkinson lane, go above and beyond for their children. we ve sorted it out in scotland. we ve sorted it out in wales. why is it here, in terms of england, that we re still messing about? for parents, it poses problems. it s child care that s an issue. i support the teachers, but i think the kids are getting a hit on the head. what they do and how they support our kids, they do deserve a pay rise, 100%. we re worried how we re going to cope with our living costs, do you know what i mean? so, we can t have the day off every other day, no. the government described its offer as fair and reasonable. a £1,000 one off cash payment for this year, and a 4.3% pay rise for most staff from september. that s on top of the introduction of a £30,000 starting salary for new teachers.