Humza Yousaf has defended the Scottish Government committing a further £5 million to its climate justice fund in the same week as nurses were told "there is no more money".
The under-pressure SNP health secretary visited Wishaw General Hospital today just hours before the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced its members had become the latest NHS staff to vote for strike action.
The most recent Scottish Government pay offer is for a flat rate of £2,205 per person backdated to April - but is widely expected to be rejected.
Speaking before the strike action was confirmed, Yousaf said: "We don't have any more money, as John Swinney has made absolutely clear."
He blamed UK Government "mismanagement for the economy" for causing runaway inflation that has depressed take home pay for workers and wiped millions of pounds off the Holyrood health budget.
Yousaf insisted Westminster should be helping devolved nations settle the pay dispute with nurses as it was "essentially a UK-wide strike".
"I am naturally disappointed that a record pay deal seems to have been rejected," he said. "From my perspective, dialogue is the way through this.
"I am committed to averting a strike - I don't think the trade union wants it, I certainly don't want it."
He added: "My plea to the UK Government is - this is essentially a UK-wide strike. We need more money from the UK Government as have no more money. There is nothing behind the sofa.
"So we really need the UK Government to help us out, particularly as so many of the pressures like inflation, right through to the cost crisis, come directly from mismanagement of the economy."
It comes as the Scottish Government this week confirmed an additional £5 million of funding to help countries in the Global South most impacted by climate change.
Asked how ministers could say there was no more money at a time when Nicola Sturgeon was attending the COP27 conference in Egypt, Yousaf said: "People in the Global South are suffering tragedy - the might not have food or shelter
"Taking money away from them, and reinvesting it back in Scotland, you can make that argument if you wish, but it's not one I subscribe to.
He continued: "I think the nature of the problem we are facing here is one that is caused predominantly by the UK Government's mismanagement of the economy.
"There's no doubt about. The Scottish Government's health budget is worth £650 million less just due to inflation."
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