Summary
Here’s a summary of the day’s main events:
Nurses – including, for the first time, those working in emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care – walked out on strike over years of worsening pay and conditions. While senior doctors warned of serious disruption, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said a minimum service, including emergency care, would be maintained.
The RCN’s general secretary Pat Cullen warned the health secretary Steve Barclay not to show disrespect to nurses. That came after Barclay portrayed the RCN’s strike for better pay and conditions as a show of disrespect for other health workers who, along with the RCN, are due to meet ministers on Tuesday to discuss the government’s latest offer. Cullen told Barclay not to show contempt for nurses she said were foregoing a day’s pay to fight for improvements to the NHS.
Nurses on the picket lines accused government ministers of failing to back up their rhetoric during the height of the Covid pandemic with a fair offer on pay and conditions. How am I supposed to live? If I don’t pay my council tax, they take me to court, or if I don’t pay my rent, I lose my home. At 70, I’m still working; what life is that? They are clapping for us but refuse to pay us properly,” one striking nurse said.
Nurses will be reballoted in May if no agreement can be reached, the RCN said. “It will end when our government will do the decent thing for nurses, does the decent thing for the people of England and actually does the decent thing for the NHS,” said Cullen.
The prime minister has “questions to answer”, the Labour leader Keir Starmer said. That came after the Sunday Times reported that a company in which Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty holds a stake was given public money. There was no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Murty’s part.
The price of school lunches has increased by more than a third in parts of England, increasing the pressure on school finances and family budgets during the cost of living crisis, according to figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats.
Families with two children can be facing a bill for more than £1,000 a year for school lunches, a rise of more than £200 since 2019, because of inflation and rising energy and staff costs, according to the party’s estimates.
The increases have outstripped the funding schools receive for pupils on free school meals and the free lunches for infants up to year 2 in primary schools. This means schools have to make up the difference from their existing budgets as a result.
Here are some of the latest images from the picket lines and the striking nurses’ march, which took them from St Thomas’ hospital, past Downing Street, to Trafalgar Square:
The grant was awarded by Innovate UK, an arm’s-length body funded by Government money that provides financial assistance and other support to companies developing new products or services.
Companies House records show that Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, the investment company controlled by Murty, has a stake in the education technology start-up. A confirmation statement dated 31 August suggests Catamaran Ventures UK Ltd held 2,474 shares in Study Hall at the time of the statement’s submission. According to the Sunday Times, no subsequent document indicates the shares have been sold.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing and the money was awarded before Sunak entered Downing Street, having taken over from Liz Truss in October.
A spokeswoman for UK Research and Innovation said:
All Innovate UK funding decisions are made through a rigorous, transparent process by independent experts.
PM has 'questions to answer' over report his wife has stake in company given public funds
The prime minister has “questions to answer”, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, says, amid reports a company in which Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, holds a stake was given public money.
The Sunday Times reported that Study Hall, an education startup in which an investment company controlled by Murty has a financial interest, was given a grant of almost £350,000.
Study Hall is described on the grant award by Innovate UK as a firm that is “developing a cutting-edge AI-based adaptive learning and assessment platform that can accelerate student progress”.
The report comes as Sunak faces a separate Commons standards investigation into concerns the he did not properly declare his wife’s shares in a childcare agency that benefited from his government’s budget. Starmer has said:
I think there are questions to answer in relation to this. There seems to be an emerging pattern of behaviour here, so I think the sooner those questions are answered the better.
Updated
Colchester hospital’s intensive care unit has had its capacity “significantly” reduced as it was not able to secure enough nurse staffing levels during the current strike action, an NHS trust chief has said. Nick Hulme, the chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, has told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:
We got an exemption from the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) so we were allowed to ask ... the nurses to come in to cover that area – not to the staffing levels we would normally have, but to safe staffing levels.
Unfortunately, nurses decided, as is entirely within their right – they are not obliged to turn up even if we ask the RCN – and, unfortunately, we weren’t able to get sufficient nurses to cover the intensive care areas, so we had to reduce the capacity significantly and transfer patients out.
Hulme said it was “not unusual” to transfer patients elsewhere, adding:
There was no risk to patients, it was just that some patients would have to travel a little further away from Colchester to be cared for in other intensive care units.
Later in the interview, he said the trust had hoped to secure a ratio of two patients to one nurse at the Colchester unit, which he regarded as “not ideal, but it is safe”. He added:
On this occasion, we didn’t have sufficient volunteers from our nursing staff to be able to run even at that level.
Cullen has told the PA news agency:
What our members are saying to the secretary of state of this government is: we are not going to go away. We will remain on our picket lines to have a voice heard for our patients.
We will continue to lose a day’s pay standing on picket lines for our patients, so that’s how important it is to them and they want to have their voice heard.
How are they going to have their voice heard and have this brought to a conclusion without the secretary of state getting into a room and starting to negotiate again with me?
Pay those people a decent wage, the offer that was put on the table didn’t address the issues with nursing and it didn’t address the issues within the health service and that’s fundamentally what needs to happen right away.
She invited people to “work a day in the shoes of our nursing staff” as thousands of nurses across the country take part in industrial action.
It’s funny how patient safety issues always get highlighted on the day our nurses are exercising their voice on behalf of their patients. What I would say to those people is work a day in the shoes of our nursing staff on the 364 days of the year that are never mentioned by general managers or chief executives, or indeed this government.
It’s our nursing staff that are carrying that risk. There are 47,000 vacant nursing positions in this country.
Nurses to be balloted in May for further strikes
The health secretary, Steve Barclay, has “lost the public and certainly lost any respect that our nursing staff had for him and this government”, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, Pat Cullen, has said.
Speaking outside the University College Hospital in London, she said Barclay should “spend less time writing papers for the Royal Court of Justice to take our nursing staff to court and get round a table and start to do the decent thing for them”.
Steve Barclay may have won the legal argument that day last Thursday but what he did was he lost the public and certainly lost any respect that our nursing staff had for him and this government.
Cullen also said nurses would be re-balloted in May for further industrial action later in the year as the pay dispute rumbles on.
It will end when our government will do the decent thing for nurses, does the decent thing for the people of England and actually does the decent thing for the NHS. Until he does that, our nursing staff will continue to stand on picket lines, losing pay and making sure that their voices are heard for their patients.
Updated
Parliamentary security guards confiscated reports and leaflets about Hong Kong from attenders of an event in Westminster in case they caused political upset, Kiran Stacey and Tom Burgis write, in a move condemned by a senior Conservative MP as “completely daft”.
Officers on the parliamentary estate forced people attending a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong last Monday to hand over copies of a report by the group about press freedom there, as well as leaflets campaigning for the release of the media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Commons officials said the material constituted “political slogans or materials”, which members of the public are not allowed to bring on to the parliamentary estate.
The material was eventually returned under pressure from David Davis, the Conservative former cabinet minister. But the row comes at a sensitive time for UK-China relations over Hong Kong, with ministers already facing pressure to stop a high-ranking Chinese official from attending the coronation because of his role in clamping down on democracy in the city.
'They are clapping for us but refuse to pay us properly' – nurses on the picket line speak
Dozens of nurses have gathered outside London’s University College Hospital, chanting and singing. Waving placards that demand fair pay and state “enough is enough”, the nurses asked how they could be expected to get by on their current pay, and said they are unable to provide acceptable care to patients due to staffing issues.
As staff lined the steps of the hospital, cancer care staff nurse Preya Assi, from Hackney in east London, said:
This is a culmination of our pay not reflecting the hours we are working. The last decade has made things considerably worse. Our colleagues are out in force because things have got so bad that we cannot pay our rent or our bills, we are relying on food banks.
We have spent the last few years fighting the pandemic. It matters to us and the care we provide matters to us. The fact the government are not looking at our pay has caused us to do this.
University College Hospital intensive care nurse Juliannah Adewumi began her career in Nigeria and has spent 40 years working in in several countries, including England.
It’s a profession that I love, I love caring for people, and when I started the job it was not like this. The money was small, but it was sufficient, and we were proud of being a nurse.
The definition of nursing is about caring for people and making them comfortable if they are at the end of their lives, but how is that possible when there is one nurse having to look after 10 patients at a time because we’re short-staffed?
Speaking about pay, she added:
How am I supposed to live? If I don’t pay my council tax, they take me to court, or if I don’t pay my rent, I lose my home. At 70, I’m still working; what life is that?
They are clapping for us but refuse to pay us properly. If they (politicians) were here, I would tell them to their faces.
If you were in any other country, they do not play with their nurses. Yesterday, we were short of two nurses and there was one nurse looking after 12 patients.
Updated
Nine out of 10 teachers in England have a negative view of Ofsted, according to a poll that comes amid calls to overhaul the schools inspectorate following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
The survey of 1,000 teachers carried out by YouGov last week found that just 7% had a favourable view of Ofsted while 90% said they had an unfavourable view; including 67% who had a “very unfavourable” view of the organisation headed by chief inspector Amanda Spielman.
Perry’s family say she killed herself after a critical Ofsted inspection downgraded her school from outstanding to inadequate. Perry’s sister Julia Waters told the National Association of Head Teachers annual conference on Saturday that the government and Ofsted “urgently” needs to reform England’s school inspection system.
The YouGov poll found that the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, is also highly unpopular among teachers, with 81% holding a negative view as the pay dispute with teachers continues. On Tuesday, the National Education Union will hold its fifth national strike day this year, affecting thousands of schools in England.
Updated
A Labour victory of more than 10% over the Conservatives in the local elections could suggest Keir Starmer is on course to be the next prime minister, a leading psephologist says.
Prof Sir John Curtice said those wanting a clue as to who could win the next general election should be focused on the projected national vote share as the results of Thursday’s poll roll in, rather than on the number of council seats gained.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that former prime ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron had secured “double-digit” wins over the rival ruling party in local authority contests before they entered Downing Street.
Polling results published on Saturday suggested Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has extended by four points across the past fortnight. An Opinium survey carried out online between 26 and 28 April suggested Labour would secure 44% of the vote share, versus the Tories’ 26% – a lead of 18 points. Curtice said:
Undoubtedly, the question above all that we’re asking ourselves about what we’ll see on Thursday is does the Labour party put in the kind of performance, if we compare it with previous local elections, that might lead us to believe – which the polls have been telling us for the last six months or so – that they have a chance of winning the next general election?
And not least of the reasons for making that the benchmark is that, if you look at what happened before the 1997 general election when Tony Blair won a landslide for Labour, Labour in the local elections leading up to 1997 were regularly recording double-digit leads in what we call the projected national share.
This is an attempt to estimate, looking at the votes cast in the local elections, as to how well the parties would have done if everywhere had had a chance to vote.
So you can see why we are asking ourselves the big question: can Labour at least register a double-digit on this measure? After all, the best they’ve done so far since 2010 is the seven-point lead that Ed Miliband got in 2012.
Updated
Scotland’s transport minister has said the fraught ferry situation facing island communities is “not brilliant”.
Islanders have faced regular disruption to sailings, mostly on routes operated by Scottish government-owned operator CalMac partly due to its ageing fleet of vessels.
The problems have been compounded by delays and cost overruns for two ferries being built at Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow, while another vessel – the MV Pentalina – ran aground on Saturday due to a mechanical failure, cancelling all sailings for an unspecified time.
Asked by the BBC if the root of the problems with ferries lies in the handling of Ferguson Marine, the Scottish transport minister, Kevin Stewart, said:
The Ferguson situation has not helped in terms of the situation we’re facing just now. But we have got six ferries that will be coming online soon. And that is required to ensure that our islands are well connected. What we have at the moment is not brilliant for many islanders.
Updated
Health secretary told 'not to be disrespectful'
Cullen is urging the health secretary Steve Barclay “not to be disrespectful” to striking nurses and to “get round the table immediately” to resolve their pay dispute. Asked on Sky News about Barclay’s description of the ongoing RCN strike as “premature” and “disrespectful” to the other unions, Cullen has said:
There’s certainly no disrespect being shown from our nursing staff, I can say that categorically.
I would ask the secretary of state not to be disrespectful to those hundreds of thousands of nursing staff that have participated in this ballot and that are losing another day’s pay today, standing out on picket lines – standing up for our health service that’s been totally broken by this government.
An NHS in crisis, 7 million-plus people on waiting lists – so how are we going to address all of those issues; how are we going to address tens of thousands of vacant posts that we’ve got in England?
If we don’t, then we will continue with serious risk to patient safety and we will never get the backlog sorted.
So, it really is incumbent on this secretary of state to get round this table immediately with myself and the Royal College of Nursing, and put more money [on the table] and let our nursing staff get back and do what they want to do, and that is care for our patients.
There would have been no pay rise at all for NHS staff without the unions’ action, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation says, though he urged nurses to accept the offer on the table as he counts the “heavy toll” of industrial action on the health service. Speaking on Sky News, Matthew Taylor said:
Obviously, we’d rather these strikes were not taking place. They come after six months of on-and-off industrial action, which has taken a heavy toll on the NHS.
We are relieved it’s only a one-day strike – initially it was going to be two – and we’re grateful to the RCN for putting in place a rising number of mitigations specifically agreed with individual hospitals in order to protect life-and-limb services.
If it hadn’t been for the action that the nurses, the paramedics, other groups took, then they wouldn’t have had the pay deal which is going to be discussed tomorrow, and that pay deal comprises a fairly significant back-dated sum and also for 5% for this year.
It’s been the togetherness, the solidarity of the trade unions that’s got them the progress they have achieved, otherwise they would have had a much smaller settlement.
I think our view now is that, given that most staff have voted in favour of this deal, it is time to accept it; for the unions to work together and for us to think more longterm about what we need to do to address that crisis of 120,000 vacancies in the health service.
Cullen has defended her union’s support for the ongoing strikes, despite previously recommending nurses accept an offer from the government. Speaking about the offer and the decision by RCN members to reject it, Cullen told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
What our nursing staff said was it was neither fair nor reasonable – it puts money in their pockets now but in the long term it doesn’t address recruitment and retention issues.
There were some elements of the pay offer that were attractive to our ruling council; for example around safe nurse staffing policy work that’s required in order for us to be able to move to a place where we have safe nurse staffing legislation in place.
Another element that was attractive to put to our members was around a separate pay structure for nursing that recognises that they are a critical profession, and their expertise.
Those elements were put to our members. Our council made the decision that it wasn’t for them to hold that money back from our nursing staff who are really struggling.
There’s no credibility issues here, our nursing staff have spoken up loud and clear.
Emergency cases will still be dealt with during nursing strikes
Nursing strikes, which are affecting emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care for the first time today, will lead to “inevitable disruption” to non-emergency care services, a leading doctor says. While the head of the nursing union insists a minimum level of care will remain, with emergency cases still being seen.
Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS England’s medical director for national transformation, has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Patients will still be seen if they unfortunately need to use an emergency department, of course that will always happen. But the delivery of care may be delayed if it is not a life-threatening emergency.
If it is an emergency, you will be treated as normal. That’s why we are really emphasising the importance of people not delaying seeking medical help and calling 999 as normal or using 111. But it is inevitable that there will be disruption to normal care even in those services where we have agreed mitigations with the Royal College of Nursing.
On cancer care, Dr Diwakar said there would be an “impact on cancer services other than those where there are life and limb-threatening services needed”, with any other 1 May appointments “rescheduled as quickly as possible”.
Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
Our nurses will continue to work today to ensure our patients are kept safe. And those nurses that are on the picket lines losing a day’s pay, should there be other emergencies that arise during that period, I won’t even have to ask those nurses to return to work, they will return at their own volition. They don’t turn their back on patients, they will continue to do what they need to do.
Cullen added that the RCN has granted “the majority if not all of the exemptions requested” for some nurses in critical care to work during the industrial action.
