Sir Keir Starmer has been slapped down by Rishi Sunak within minutes of the first Prime Minister’s Questions of 2023. The pair clashed over strikes which have hit the health services with nurses and ambulance staff having staged walk outs.
Sir Keir said if the Prime Minister had negotiated with nurses and ambulance workers they would not be on strike, and accused him of “choosing to prolong misery”.
He said: “In the 13 years of the last Labour government there were no national NHS strikes. If the Prime Minister had negotiated with the nurses before Christmas, they wouldn’t be on strike. If he had negotiated with the ambulance workers, they wouldn’t be on strike either.
“So why is he choosing to prolong the misery rather than end these strikes?”
Mr Sunak shot back “We’ve always been clear that we want to have constructive dialogue with the unions. That is also why when it comes to the issue of pay we have accepted in full the independent recommendations of pay review bodies.
“The honourable gentleman simply doesn’t have a policy when it comes to this question. He talks about wanting to end the strikes. The question for him is simple then: why does he not support our minimum safety legislation?”
“We all know why … it’s because he’s on the side of his union paymasters, not patients.”
