Ministers set to impose NHS pay deal on staff despite opposition of unions

Move is apparently designed to isolate the Royal College of Nursing, which is due to begin another strike

Ministers plan to impose a pay deal on NHS workers even as nurses continue to reject it, the Observer understands, as health service unions prepare to hold crunch talks on the package this week.

Both the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unite unions continue to oppose the deal offered to NHS workers, after protracted negotiations that have led to strikes and hampered attempts to shorten waiting lists. All 12 unions involved in the talks will gather on Tuesday to vote on whether to accept an improved deal covering the last two years.

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NHS leader asks union to let striking nurses go back to work for emergencies

Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening

An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.

Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.

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NHS medics and UK nationals faced risky route to Sudan evacuation point

Hundreds of people were told to make own way through ongoing fighting to airbase north of Khartoum

NHS doctors and British nationals faced a treacherous route to reach an airbase north of Khartoum before a deadline for evacuations, amid ongoing airstrikes and artillery fire in the Sudanese capital.

Hundreds of people were told to find their own way to an evacuation centre at the Wadi Seidna airbase, about 14 miles (20km) north of Khartoum and its twin city, Omdurman. They had to navigate ongoing fighting as the Sudanese Armed Forces continued to attack positions across the two cities, while members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces hid among civilian buildings.

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Deadline for British nationals to reach evacuation airfield in Sudan passes

Deputy PM to chair Cobra meeting on security situation in Khartoum as UK government prepares to end flights

The deadline for British nationals to reach the evacuation airfield in Sudan has passed as the government prepares to cease flights out of the country within hours.

The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, will chair a Cobra meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss the security situation in Khartoum in advance of the final flight taking off at 6pm UK time.

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Britons in Sudan have until midday on Saturday to fly out, ministers say

Government announces end to airlifts amid calls for NHS doctors without UK passports to be rescued

British nationals trapped in Sudan have until midday on Saturday local time to get on a flight before they stop, ministers have announced, as a doctors’ union called for NHS medics without UK passports to also be airlifted.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, said on Friday night more than 1,500 people had been flown out, and there had been a “significant decline in British nationals coming forward”, meaning it was time to end the operation.

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Barclay ‘wasting public money’ with legal action against nursing strike

Exclusive: Health secretary trying to ‘wear down’ NHS nurses rather than negotiating, RCN general secretary to tell high court

Steve Barclay will be accused of wasting taxpayers’ money by pursuing striking nurses through the courts when the government seeks on Thursday to shorten their industrial action due to start on Sunday evening.

In a witness statement to be heard in the high court, Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, will say the health and social care secretary is trying to “wear down” nurses through legal action.

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Infected blood victims and families urge UK government to drop defence

Exclusive: Claimants say government can no longer defend treatment disaster in light of inquiry’s damning interim report

More than 500 people taking the government to court over the contaminated blood scandal are urging it to concede the case in light of evidence heard by a public inquiry and an interim report produced by its chair.

The claim, which began in 2017 but was stayed pending the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, alleges the Department of Health – now the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – breached a duty to take reasonable care to prevent personal injury or loss, amounting to misfeasance in public office.

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Nurses’ leader blasts Steve Barclay over ‘disgraceful’ use of legal action to stop strike

Pat Cullen attacks health secretary’s attempt to prevent 48-hour action in England as ‘frightening for democracy’

The leader of the Royal College of Nursing has said a legal attempt by the health secretary to block next weekend’s strike in England is “frightening for democracy and very frightening for trade unionism”.

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, said it was “disgraceful” that Steve Barclay was attempting to thwart the strike via the courts, and said nurses would “not be bullied into silence”.

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RCN head accuses Barclay of issuing ‘blatant threat’ with legal action over strikes

Pat Cullen said health secretary’s attempt to block 48-hour nurses’ strike was ‘cruel’ and ‘unacceptable’

The health secretary’s legal challenge against the Royal College of Nursing’s forthcoming strike is a “blatant threat”, the union’s leader has said.

Steve Barclay’s decision to refer to the courts, revealed on Friday, is the latest twist in the long-running saga over pay between nurses and the government.

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Dominic Raab bullying claims: deputy PM refusing to resign after reading report – as it happened

Dominic Raab denies wrongdoing after report on his behaviour delivered to Rishi Sunak this morning

Today’s announcement by the Association of School and College Leaders that it is to hold a formal ballot for national strike action for the first time in its history (see 9.49am) marks a significant development in the ongoing dispute between teachers and the government.

Up until now only members of the National Education Union (NEU) have taken strike action in England, with five more days of strikes planned for later this term. In addition a fresh ballot is to be held to provide the NEU with a mandate for further strike action up until Christmas.

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Colin Beattie ‘steps back’ as SNP treasurer following arrest amid party finance investigation – as it happened

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PMQs is starting in five minutes.

The Cabinet Office has just published the revised list of ministers’ interests. This is the document that is supposed get updated every six months, but which has not been updated for around a year – partly because it’s the job of the No 10 independent adviser on ministes’ interests (aka, the ethics adviser), and for months the post was empty because two of Boris Johnson’s resigned, and then he gave up trying to find a replacement.

The prime minister’s wife is a venture capital investor. She owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, and a number of direct shareholdings.

As the prime minister set out in his letter to the chair of the liaison committee on 4 April 2023, this includes the minority shareholding that his wife has in relation to the company, Koru Kids. The guide to the categories of interest (section 7, pages 4-6) sets out the independent adviser’s approach to the inclusion of interests declared in relation to spouses, partners and close family members within the list. The prime minister’s letter of 4 April is available at https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/38992/documents/191876/default/

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Keir Starmer says NHS is ‘broken’ and in jeopardy under Tories

Research by Labour shows 4.5 million in England went to A&E last year due to lack of GP appointments

Keir Starmer has said the NHS is “broken” and he believes the future of the health service is in jeopardy under the Conservatives.

The Labour leader accused the Tories of presiding over a “cycle of decline” as new research by his party shows that nearly a fifth of patients in England, which equates to 4.5 million people, went to A&E last year because they were unable to get a GP appointment.

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Sickness drags down UK economy as job vacancies go unfilled

Rishi Sunak wants growth, but ONS figures show rising levels of inactivity because of ill-health

Unwelcome though it is for a government facing strikes by doctors and nurses in the months ahead, the message from the latest labour market figures is clear: Britain is already the sick man of Europe.

More than 2.5 million people who are economically inactive cite long-term sickness as the reason why they are not looking for a job – and the number is rising sharply.

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‘Buckling’ NHS fails to treat 250,000 children with mental health problems

Exclusive: child mental health crisis deepens with one-third of all referrals denied help

A quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems have been denied help by the NHS as it struggles to manage surging case loads against a backdrop of a crisis in child mental health.

Some NHS trusts are failing to offer treatment to 60% of those referred by GPs, the research based on freedom of information request responses has found.

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk. YoungMinds is at youngminds.org.uk.

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Rishi Sunak appears ready to try to tough out further wave of NHS strikes

High-risk tactic increases likelihood of combined stoppages by nurses and junior doctors in England

Rishi Sunak appears set on trying to face down unions in a high-risk strategy to tough out a renewed wave of NHS strikes in England that health service leaders warned were unsustainable and could put patient safety at risk.

With the prime minister and his health secretary, Steve Barclay, seemingly offering no fresh concessions for nurses or junior doctors, they risk the possibility of combined strike action, a scenario one NHS leader said would put the health service “into uncharted territory”.

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Local election voters may punish Tories as NHS strikes drag on

Chair says party could lose 1,000 English seats on 4 May, despite voters finding Rishi Sunak more palatable than his predecessors

Even by the standards of political expectations management, Greg Hands’ message in his Sunday morning interviews was stark: the Conservative party, which he chairs, should expect to lose more than 1,000 councillors in next month’s local elections.

When party bigwigs make such predictions they usually do so against a context of significant wins the last time the seats were contested. But in May 2019, Theresa May was weeks away from announcing her departure, and the Tories lost more than 1,300 seats.

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NHS crisis deepens as nursing union plans ‘mega strike’ in England

Doctors could join coordinated strike as Royal College of Nurses announce national ballot on mass action

England’s biggest nursing union is to ballot its members on whether to join a “make or break” mega-strike that would lead to mass action by nurses in every hospital trust in the country, the Observer can reveal.

The move by the Royal College of Nursing to “up the ante” by holding a single national vote – rather than conducting ballots in each individual trust as it did last October – would, if passed, mean twice as many trusts being hit by industrial action by nurses as have been so far.

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Further England nurses’ strikes present ‘severe challenge’ to NHS

NHS leader says threat of joint strike with junior doctors could pose hardest challenge yet

A 48-hour nurses’ strike in England in May will present “severe challenges”, and the threat of coordinated industrial action with junior doctors could pose the “most difficult challenge” to date, an NHS boss has said.

Speaking after a four-day junior doctors’ strike ended at 7am on Saturday, Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said fresh strike action announced by the Royal College of Nursing from 30 April until 2 May, and the possibility of stoppages continuing into next winter, was “extremely worrying and concerning”.

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Nurses will strike again in England after voting to reject government pay deal

RCN members refuse offer recommended by union leaders by 54% to 46% in ballot

Nurses are to launch fresh strike action across England later this month after rejecting the government’s pay offer, sparking fears stoppages could go on until Christmas.

In a major blow to ministers, union leaders and health service bosses, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) voted narrowly, by 54% to 46%, on a turnout of 61%, to reject the government’s offer of a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year.

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Royal College of Nursing rejects government pay offer and announces new strike – as it happened

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Nurses in England are preparing to go on strike until Christmas after members of the country’s biggest nursing union voted against the government’s pay deal, the Guardian has learned.

The Royal College of Nursing will announce that members have rejected the government’s offer and will at the same time announce a new ballot for more aggressive strikes likely to last for the next six months.

The vote has closed and the figures are being verified. There is no result until that point. We will make an announcement later today and tell our members first.

Members of the GMB union at the company’s Coventry fulfilment centre will walk out on Sunday for three days.

Further strikes are planned from April 21 to 23.

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