Letter to the Prime Minster requesting negotiations on pay

Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
Prime Minister 
10 Downing Street
London 
SW1A 2AA

4 February 2023

Dear Prime Minister, 

During a television interview on your 100th day in office, you appeared to demonstrate a change in tone in respect of the strike by nursing staff - even agreeing they are an exceptional case. 

I am appealing directly to you for the first time: address this current impasse. 

In meetings with your Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, I have made clear that opening negotiations and making meaningful offers can avert strike action. 

Yesterday, the Welsh Government made an offer of an additional 3 per cent for the current financial year. Consequently, we cancelled our strike action in Wales for Monday and Tuesday. In Scotland, negotiations continue over additional funding for the current year too and there are no planned strikes. 

Your government looks increasingly isolated in refusing to reopen 2022/23. As a result, the strike action for England next week remains - with tens of thousands of individuals losing wages to ensure you hear their voice. It must not be in vain. 

It will be the biggest day of industrial action in the 75-year history of the NHS. Nursing staff find that a sobering realisation of how far they have been pushed to protect patient care and secure some respect for the nursing profession. 

As shown by last weekend’s fast-paced changes in Cabinet, big decisions can be made by you at any point in the week in the interests of good government. I am urging you to use this weekend to reset your government in the eyes of the public and demonstrate it is on the side of the hardworking, decent taxpayer. 

There could be no simpler way to demonstrate this commitment than bringing the nurse strike to a swift close. 

Yours sincerely,   

Pat Cullen, General Secretary & Chief Executive