of the independent pay review body. we are going to pay what they recommend we should pay to nurses in full. we can t go further than that, but that s what we re prepared to do. is your position very different from that? well, labour s being honest, too, that the headline demand of the royal college of nursing inflation plus 5% is not a figure that we could afford if we were in government today. to be clear, that would amount to something between 17% and 19% for nurses. indeed. but we would be willing to talk about pay, not least because i m particularly concerned about those people on the lower pay bands in the nhs, particularly nursing colleagues, but also wider allied health professionals and auxiliary staff. i m also worried about the pay ofjunior doctors, people starting out in their careers, and i think we should talk about those issues and see if there s a negotiation that could be reached. and so, while i can t obviously, we re not in government today i wish we we
i can t be sure about. why not? we re not in government today and i can t tell you where the negotiation would conclude. you can t be a credible opposition unless you re prepared to be substantive in the way you differ from the government. sure, but on the test of credibility, i would not credibly be going into a negotiation saying, and here s where i would settle. who does that in a negotiation? i ve tried to be as straightforward as i can from opposition that we wouldn t be settling on inflation plus 5%, because we don t think it s affordable, but we would be willing to negotiate. and i think that s a fair position. it s a position that would have stopped strikes this week. and so the fact that they re going ahead, i think, rests with the government. and what s more, the government says, we re following the advice of the independent pay body, but the government sets the size of the envelope and the government sets the terms of the pay body. and at the moment, it doesn tjust appl
would conclude. you can t be a credible opposition unless you re prepared to be substantive in the way you differ from the government. sure, but on the test of credibility, i would not credibly be going into a negotiation saying, and here s where i would settle . who on earth does that in a negotiation? i ve tried to be as straightforward as i can from opposition that we wouldn t be settling on inflation plus 5% because we don t think it s affordable, but we would be willing to negotiate, and i think that s a fair position. it s a position that would ve stopped strikes this week. and so, the fact that they re going ahead, i think, rests with the government. and what s more, the government says, we re following the advice of the independent pay body, but the government sets the size of the envelope and the government sets the terms of the pay body. and at the moment, it doesn tjust apply to the nurses strike. it applies to such a wide range of issues at the moment where the governm
so the disruption that inevitably we re going to see in terms of cancelled operations, poorer services, even poorer than they already are, i think the blame rests squarely at the door of the government. well, the government s being honest because the government says, look, we have accepted the findings of the independent pay review body. we are going to pay what they recommend we should pay to nurses in full. we can t go further than that, but that s what we re prepared to do. is your position very different from that? well, labour s being honest too that the headline demand of the royal college of nursing, inflation plus 5%, is not a figure that we could afford if we were in government today. to be clear, that would amount to something between 17% and 19% for nurses. indeed. but we would be willing to talk about pay. not least because i m particularly concerned about those people on the lower pay bands in the nhs, particularly nursing colleagues, but also wider allied health professio
well, as i said, stephen, that s the one thing i can t be sure about because. why not? we re not in government today and i can t tell you where the negotiation would conclude. butjust on that test of. you can t criticise the government and be a credible opposition, unless you re prepared to be substantive in the way you differ from the government. sure. but on the test of credibility, i would not credibly be going into a negotiation saying, and here s where i would settle. who on earth does that in a negotiation? i ve tried to be as straightforward as i can from opposition that we wouldn t be settling on inflation plus 5% because we don t think it s affordable, but we would be willing to negotiate. and i think that s a fair position. it s a position that would have stopped strikes this week. and so the fact that they re going ahead, i think rests with the government. and what s more, the government says we re following the advice of the independent pay body, but the government sets the