A 48-hour strike planned by nurses this weekend would be unlawful, a High Court judge has ruled.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay took the Royal College of Nursing to court after warning the union does not have a mandate to stage the walkout.
Nurses planned to take industrial action from 8pm on Sunday, April 30, to 8pm on Tuesday, May 2. Now they will have to cut their walkout short by a day.
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice following the ruling, Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen said it was the "darkest day" of the dispute so far.
She said: "They (the government) have won their legal action today. But what this has led to is they have lost nursing and they've lost the public.
"They've taken the most trusted profession through the courts, by the least trusted people.
"And what a day for nursing. What a day for patients. And what an indictment on this government to do this to the very people that have held this NHS together, not just through the pandemic, but an NHS that has been run into the ground and in crisis, caused by this government."
Nurses will continue to strike on Sunday evening and again on Monday, but no strike action will happen on Tuesday 2 May.
Under the law, all industrial action ballots must reach a 50% turnout with a majority voting in favour of strike.
Unions are then allowed to take strike action for a specific period of time before they must then ballot their members again to check they are still in favour of strikes.
NHS Employers, an organisation which acts on behalf of NHS trusts, argued the six-month mandate in which the RCN could take strike action in England expires at midnight on May 1.
Its chief executive Danny Mortimer wrote to Mr Barclay last week calling on the Government to challenge the legality of the strike with a Judicial Review.
Following today's result, Ms Cullen reminded the health secretary that nurses did not want to take strike action but wanted to resolve the pay dispute. RCN members rejected the government's most recent offer, which included a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year.
She added: "What he needs to do is get into a negotiating room and start to talk to the nurses of England, sort out this dispute and allow them to get back to their work."
Mr Barclay said: “I firmly support the right to take industrial action within the law – but the government could not stand by and let plainly unlawful strike action go ahead.
"Both the NHS and my team tried to resolve this without resorting to legal action, but unfortunately, following a request from NHS Employers, we took this step with regret to protect nurses by ensuring they are not asked to take part in an unlawful strike.
“We welcome the decision of the High Court that the Royal College of Nursing’s planned strike on 2 May is illegal.
“The government wants to continue working constructively with the Royal College of Nursing, as was the case when we agreed the pay offer that was endorsed by their leadership. We now call on them to do the right thing by patients and agree derogations for their strike action on 30 April and 1 May.”
The legal action is likely to worsen the bitter industrial dispute between nurses and Mr Barclay.
It comes as allegations of bullying emerged about the health secretary last night.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "I think, firstly, it is obviously regrettable that it had to come to court action in the first instance.
"The Government never wanted to take this to court. We did indeed try every possible way to avoid a court case.
"The NHS presented the RCN with clear legal evidence that their planned strike for May 2 was unlawful. We asked them to call it off. The RCN refused. That's why the NHS asked the Government to intervene and seek the view of the court.
"Late yesterday, Steve Barclay wrote the RCN, to Pat Cullen again, and asked them to call off their final day of the strike given we were confident that it was not legal, they refused again."
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