Health secretary Steve Barclay will hold talks with nursing union leaders around 6pm on Monday evening amid an increasingly-bitter war of words over looming strikes.
Despite agreeing to speak to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Mr Barclay has made clear the government’s position on the union’s demand for a 5 per cent above inflation pay rise remains unchanged.
It is understood the topic and status of the talks with RCN general secretary Pat Cullen were not pre-agreed before the meeting – but the health secretary is not expected to discuss pay.
Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “I don’t think there’s plans to talk pay, certainly from the secretary of state’s perspective.”
The No 10 official said: “Outside of pay – which we’ve said rightly are for an independent body to decide – there are non-pay options to discuss with the unions. Issues affecting nurse morale, for example.”
Ahead of 6pm discussions, an RCN spokesman said: “We have replied positively to [Mr Barclay’s] email and we will attend in the hope the government is now serious about negotiating.”
Earlier on Monday, Mr Barclay said giving in to pay demands would take money away from funding NHS operations – and again insisted that he would not negotiate on the 4 and 5 per cent pay offer already set by the independent pay review body.
On the backlog of seven million people waiting for an operation, Mr Barclay told the BBC: “I don’t want to be taking money away from clearing the backlog, which is what we would have to do – we’d have to take money away from patients waiting for operations to then fund additional pay.”
Ms Cullen told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the RCN could delay a strike set for 21 December if the government showed it was willing to negotiate – even through Acas – on an improved pay offer.
She said if the health secretary “gets round a table with us and has realistic, honest talks, there’s a strong possibility that I will be able to go back to my council and say ‘I recommend that we avert the strikes and continue those negotiations’.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting branded the government’s approach to the NHS pay dispute “disgusting” – accusing ministers of “spoiling for a fight” and letting down patients by refusing to properly engage with unions.
Only a “few hours of talk” on pay at the last minute could avoid strike action by nurses, Mr Streeting said.
He added: “The RCN and Unison have said they will call off strikes this week if they are willing to negotiate with them seriously on pay. This is a reasonable offer of compromise that is surely too good to refuse – so what on earth are they playing at?”
Mr Streeting said the government’s “stubborn refusal to engage in serious negotiations shows they are spoiling for a fight” – accused ministers of blaming staff for waiting lists.
“They want to blame nurses, blame paramedics, blame NHS staff for challenges in the national health service which are the direct fault and responsibility of 12 years of Conservative mismanagement – frankly, I think it’s disgusting,” said the shadow health secretary.
Mr Streeting also confirmed Labour would not be able to meet the unions’ demand for a 19 per cent pay rise – 5 per cent above RPI inflation – but would be willing to negotiate.
Sir Keir Starmer earlier accused the government of showing a “profound lack of leadership” over the strikes – but said the pay demand by nurses was “probably more than can be afforded”.
It comes as senior ministers held a meeting of Cobra – the government’s emergency response committee – to plan for a wave of strike action in the days ahead is understood to be ongoing.
A wave of strikes by nurses, paramedics, rail workers and Border Force staff this month is expected to cause mass disruption, with thousands of NHS operations and appointments cancelled.
