A Cabinet Minister has said nursing is a "vocation" and NHS staff set for unprecedented strike action are making a "high ask" over pay.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said nurses were already getting "some more money" and said it was "very difficult to judge" if they get paid enough as it is.
He said it was "unfair" to ask if nurses should get paid as much as politicians as both are "vocations".
The basic annual salary for an MP is £84,144, while ministers earn tens of thousands of pounds more on top of this. The average salary for a nurse is £34,000, according to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
Members of the RCN have voted for mass walkouts in a row over pay, with nursing chiefs calling for 5% pay hikes above inflation, which is now above 10%.
Strikes are expected to take place before the end of the year at some of the UK's biggest hospitals, including Guy's and St Thomas' opposite Parliament, the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, University Hospital Wales, and Belfast's Royal Victoria.
Hard-pressed nurses have told the Mirror that they've resorted to eating patients' leftovers or skipping meals because they are struggling.
NHS staff have been offered pay rises worth at least £1,400, but for most this works out at around 4% - while inflation has tipped above 10%.
Asked about the nurses strike, Mr Heaton-Harris told Sky News: "Well, they are getting some more money. I mean, nurses' pay has been set by independent bodies for quite some time.
"That award has been made and will be paid and, you know, I want to say like everybody would like to, but you know, nurses, doctors, everybody in the NHS went that extra mile during the time of the pandemic.
"Actually, they were the only group of people who got a pay rise in the public sector in the pandemic, 3% pay rise. But the ask of the RCN, the Royal College of Nursing, at 17%, is a high ask. I believe even Labour say they can't afford that."
Asked whether nurses get paid enough as it is, Mr Heaton-Harris said "it's very difficult to judge", adding: "I mean, I was looking at the pay bands.
"It's not my area of expertise, you'd understand. I know it's a vocation, I suppose you could say politics is a vocation in many ways."
On whether nurses deserve as much pay as politicians, the Northern Ireland Secretary said: "Some people wouldn't want to pay politicians anything.
"I think that's an unfair question because we're in completely different places."
NHS hospitals will do all they can to "minimise harm to patients" if nurses go on strike, the NHS Confederation said.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the body which represents NHS organisations, said strike plans were in place to minimise the impact on patients but some non-urgent operations and appointments will have to be cancelled or postponed.
He told BBC Breakfast: "Clearly industrial action is a challenge for the health service and NHS leaders.
"We're already coping with the gap that exists between the demand that is currently on the health service from the public. We've got to meet that demand, and we all know that we are heading into what already is a very difficult winter.
"Then we add industrial action into that and it's going to be an extremely difficult job.
"The priority will be to try to minimise patient harm."
Patricia Marquis, RCN director for England, said that current NHS services were "not safe" and the Government has "failed to listen" to staff.
She said there are some services that need to continue during strike action to keep patients safe "and we will agree with employers what those are and which staff should be working".
She added that employers across most of the UK needed 14 days' notice of strike action, adding: "What I can say is that we intend to take action certainly before the end of this year."
