Nurse strikes could double in size next month after pay talks stumbled - with Jeremy Hunt refusing to stump up more cash.
The Royal College of Nursing will send members out at 55 NHS trusts in England on Wednesday and Thursday.
Now the union has warned if there is no pay breakthrough, it could strike again on February 6 - and double the current number of nurses could walk out.
Walkouts are currently staggered but if progress is not made by the end of January, the next set of strikes will include all eligible members in England for the first time.
Nearly a week after Tory ministers promised to look at either a one-off payment for NHS staff, or at backdating their 2023/24 pay offer by three months, there is still no breakthrough.
Unions say Health Secretary Steve Barclay offered to “be the advocate” for health workers in Cabinet and asked for their “assistance in making the case”.
Sara Gorton of UNISON told the Observer: “He asked for our assistance in making the case about how improving pay and investing in the workforce could lead to greater efficiencies and productivity.”
But it’s understood Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is refusing to provide any extra cash for the health service beyond what was agreed already.
That means Mr Barclay is pushing for “efficiencies and productivity” to fund any pay boost from existing budgets - angering the unions.
Mr Hunt is now seen as a stumbling block in the talks, according to the Sunday Times, while the Observer reported he now accepts nurses will need more money to break the dispute.
A Westminster source told the Sunday Times: "Last year he argued for more funding for the NHS in his book Zero.
“Now he has become the iron chancellor, saying no to everything."
A Department of Health and Social Care source strongly rejected claims of a Cabinet split, saying: “The Health Secretary is working closely with colleagues across government on challenges facing the NHS including pay and industrial action.”
RCN chiefs had asked for a 19% pay rise for nurses and are now thought to be willing to accept a 10% rise.
A Treasury source insisted health and social care received £14billion in the Autumn Statement, and money saved from an efficiencies review can be spent on lifting pay.
It comes as MPs are due to vote tomorrow on the latest Tory attack on the right to strike.
The Government’s “poison” Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is back in Parliament and is likely to be approved by the Commons, where the Conservatives have a working majority of 67.
