Things got heated on Good Morning Britain as Susanna Reid clashed with Labour MP Stephen Kinnock over whether NHS workers will actually see a 3% pay rise this year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under growing pressure from millions of public sector workers after independent pay review bodies recommended bigger rises than the government had planned for. Teachers, representing 514,000 workers, have been suggested a nearly 4% pay bump, while the body covering 1.38 million NHS workers has called for a 3% increase. But with the government only budgeting for around 2.8%, concerns are mounting about the impact on public finances, reported the Express.
On Monday (April 28), Susanna and her co-host welcomed Kinnock, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, onto the ITV show to get some straight answers.
Jumping straight into it, Susanna said: “Right, let’s talk about pay. You will have seen the report in The Times, which says there is a recommendation for 1.3 million NHS workers to have a 3% pay rise. The Chancellor has not budgeted for that as we understand, but will she agree to it?”
Kinnock was quick to dodge any direct commitment, replying: “Well, I’m sure you’d understand that I’m not going to conduct these negotiations on a TV interview. We are considering the recommendations of the pay review body.”
He tried to shift the focus to Labour’s recent wins in healthcare disputes: “We, of course, last year sorted out the junior doctors’ strike, we got them off the picket line and back to the front line. As a result of that, we’re seeing waiting lists dropping now for six months in a row, even through the winter period. And we’re starting to see a massive increase in diagnostics, lots of other really good results in terms of settling with GPs and moving forward on dentistry, moving forward on pharmacy.”
But Susanna wasn’t letting him off that easily, pointing out: “You couldn’t counter on strike action, could you, because that would set your waiting lists back further.”
Kinnock agreed: “Well, absolutely, nobody wants to have strike action, and I would, of course, urge all of our colleagues in the trade unions to be at the table to engage with us constructively.”
He went on to defend the government’s position: “This is a government that’s all about putting more money into the pockets of working people. Look what we’ve done with the national living wage, interest rates falling three times in a row,and sorting out the deal with junior doctors. We are absolutely about putting more money in the pockets of working people, but we have to do that within our physical constraints.”
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