British nurses push for double-digit pay rise

British nurses are pushing for a double-digit pay rise after rejecting the government’s 5 per cent pay rise in a close vote.
According to Bloomberg News, Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said the college was calling on the government to resume negotiations on pay and that “talks should start with a double-digit increase”.
Nurses have staged strikes in recent months, part of a wave of unions across the UK demanding wages rise in line with rising inflation.
The Royal College of Nursing previously recommended that the UK government offer a 5 per cent pay rise in England for the next financial year, but nurses rejected the increase in April and further strikes were announced.
“Looking at this salary offer, I personally may have underestimated the members and their unwavering determination,” Colin told The Sunday Times. He added: “I think what I would say to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is: ‘Don’t do it. Don’t make the same mistake, don’t underestimate them.”
Sunak has pledged to reduce waiting lists across the NHS, which have grown as it struggles with funding and staff shortages.
In an interview on Britain’s “Sky News” network’s “Sophie’s Ridge on Sunday” program, UK Energy Secretary Grant Shabbs said the latest pay for nurses was “very generous”.
The British central bank, the Bank of England, raised key interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5 percent, the lowest in nearly 15 years, amid efforts to curb rampant inflation.
The Bank of England’s board of directors voted to raise interest rates for the 12th time in a row, while the inflation rate in Britain still exceeds 10 percent, resulting in the cost of living.
Since Russia, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers, launched a military intervention in Ukraine, global decision-makers have been trying to control rising inflation fueled by rising energy prices.
The Bank of England warned there was “significant uncertainty” about when inflation would return to its target rate of 2 percent.
The Bank of England indicated that if there were signs of further stress, “further tightening of monetary policy would be necessary”.
But the Bank of England expected the UK economy to avoid recession this year and that the impact of the recent turmoil in the commercial banking sector would be minimal.
The decision to raise key interest rates comes a week after Rishi Sunak’s conservative government suffered a setback in local elections as the Conservatives, who have ruled the country for 13 years, suffered heavy losses in traditional strongholds of the British right.