Rishi Sunak has refused to budge on NHS pay, saying the rises could worsen rising inflation as he comes under increasing pressure to negotiate with striking health workers.
The Prime Minister suggested politicians should not “skip through” the independent pay review process to increase the pay of nurses and paramedics, even if it meant more damaging strikes this winter.
However, in his first appearance before the powerful Commons liaison committee, he did not rule out the government rewriting the powers of pay review bodies for next year, meaning NHS workers they could get a bigger prize in the future.
“There will be a body and a process for next year. The door is always open to talk to everyone to be constructive about how we approach these things going forward,” he told MPs.
It came as last-minute talks between health secretary Steve Barclay and health unions broke down without a resolution, with Unite saying the negotiations had been “futile” as the Tory politician had refused to discuss pay.
Thousands of ambulance workers, including paramedics and call handlers, are to strike on pay in England and Wales on Wednesday, following a second day of strikes by nurses. NHS leaders have warned they cannot keep patients safe during industrial action.
The prime minister told MPs on the commission, in his last parliamentary appearance before the Christmas break, that he was following the recommendations of the pay review bodies, which he said had taken into account “advance estimates of inflation” .
He told public sector workers who are considering going on strike this Christmas: “I have recognized that it is difficult, it is difficult for everyone, because inflation is where it is. And the best way to help them and help everyone else in the country is for us to get down and get inflation down as soon as possible.
“And we have to make sure that the decisions we make can lead to that outcome. Because if we get it wrong and we’re still facing high inflation a year from now, that’s not going to help anybody.
“I don’t want to see this, I want things to go back to normal, and that’s why having an independent payment process is an important part of making these decisions and making them right.”
Elsewhere in the session, Sunak repeatedly declined to comment on speculation that he plans to pull Britain out of the European convention on human rights to avoid legal challenges to his stated plan to stop refugees arriving in the UK through non-officials are allowed. to stay, regardless of their circumstances.
Asked about his wider plan to limit the number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats, unveiled a week ago, Sunak reiterated that his promise to clear the backlog of asylum applications asylum at the end of next year was only related to the figure of 92,000. that were there in June, not the current total of more than 143,000.
Sunak also declined to speculate on how many small boats he expected to arrive by 2023, or whether the backlog would clear enough that no asylum seeker would wait more than six months for their application to be processed.
Asked several times whether he planned to leave the ECtHR, Sunak told MPs they would have to wait to see the planned legislation, drafts of which were due before Christmas but have been delayed.
“I want to provide an immigration system that means when someone comes in illegally, they don’t have the right to stay,” he said. “We will see the legislation next year and we will certainly have the opportunity to debate it then. But I wouldn’t want to speculate on that now.”
Leaving the ECtHR would be popular with many Tory MPs, but is likely to be very complex for a number of legal and treaty-based reasons.
Pushed by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry on whether she agreed with Home Secretary Suella Braverman and her justice secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab that it might be necessary, Sunak would again not go out of the draw
“I said I wanted to fix this problem,” he said. “I will do whatever it takes to solve the problem of illegal immigration and small boats coming here.”