Doctors ‘unreasonable’ and should accept 6% pay offer – cabinet minister
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog.
Let’s start the day with comments made by the education secretary urging the British Medical Association (BMA) to accept the recommended pay offer for public sector workers.
The chair of the BMA’s UK council said Rishi Sunak’s pay rise offer “fails to address” years of below inflation pay deals. Prof Phil Banfield added that the government’s offer “is exactly why many doctors feel they have no choice but to take industrial action”.
But this morning Gillian Keegan said the organization was “absurd” and called on junior doctors to “look at” the 6% pay offer.
He told LBC radio:
Their starting position is an absurd position. We all understand that there is inflation and there is a big spike in inflation. And that affects all of us.
That’s why the main goal is to reduce inflation. You don’t chase it. I would encourage them to take the same approach as everyone else.
Keegan also told Sky News:
I would encourage the BMA, the independent pay review bodies to do a thorough analysis and they look at recruitment rates, retention, they look at all other types of professions or similar professions so they can do a full job.
Main events
Workers at Gatwick airport are to strike amid a pay dispute
Almost 1,000 workers at Gatwick Airport, including baggage handlers and check-in staff, are to strike in a dispute over pay.
Unite members employed by four private contractors will walk out for four days from July 28 and again for four days from August 4, the PA reported.
The union said the action would “inevitably” cause disruption to flights over the long summer holiday period.
Those involved in the dispute are employed by ASC, Menzies Aviation, GGS and DHL Services, which conduct outsourced operations for airlines including ground handling, baggage handling, ramp agents, dispatchers, and check-in.
Unite said that they have negotiated with four companies since January but they failed to make offers that meet the expectations of the workers.
Union general secretary Sharon Graham said:
Our members at Gatwick airport perform extremely difficult roles and are essential to keep the airport and the planes working, yet their employers somehow consider accepting to pay them less.
As part of Unite’s unwavering focus on the jobs, pay and conditions of its members, the union has drawn a line in the sand and committed to eradicating the scourge of low pay at the airport.
The absence of students is at a “crisis” level, the education secretary said, as he endorsed headteachers to take children to school if necessary.
Gillian Keegan told Sky News that headteachers have a “duty” to get children to school.
Figures released earlier this year showed that about 125,000 students last year were severely absent, effectively meaning they were absent more often than in classrooms, PA Media reported.
Keegan, who rejected the suggestion that the government was out of control of the problem, was asked about examples of head teachers driving to children’s homes to pick them up and take them to school.
“They have a duty,” he said. “We all have to play our part.
“I have a lot of headteachers who work with me on policy and sometimes you have to do that – sometimes you have to go or you have to text the parent in the morning … you do whatever you can.”
Pressed on whether that was a good use of teachers’ time, Keegan said:
This is a good tool that all the children at school.
That’s not what we want headteachers to do all their days. But honestly, now, if that works to get someone to school, it’s worth it.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan also said this morning that the government would honor the 6.5% pay rise offered to teachers in the long term.
He told Times Radio that the process of ensuring that salary costs could be covered and paid without affecting frontline budgets was “difficult” and “difficult”.
He also dismissed suggestions that the prime minister had conceded to the union’s demands, adding:
No, I think Rishi has shown good leadership.
It’s not easy to do, and all you have to do is try and set expectations, to make sure people have reasonable expectations.
Doctors ‘unreasonable’ and should accept 6% pay offer – cabinet minister
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog.
Let’s start the day with comments made by the education secretary urging the British Medical Association (BMA) to accept the recommended pay offer for public sector workers.
The chair of the BMA’s UK council said Rishi Sunak’s pay rise offer “fails to address” years of below inflation pay deals. Prof Phil Banfield added that the government’s offer “is exactly why many doctors feel they have no choice but to take industrial action”.
But this morning Gillian Keegan said the organization was “absurd” and called on junior doctors to “look at” the 6% pay offer.
He told LBC radio:
Their starting position is an absurd position. We all understand that there is inflation and there is a big spike in inflation. And that affects all of us.
That’s why the main goal is to reduce inflation. You don’t chase it. I would encourage them to take the same approach as everyone else.
Keegan also told Sky News:
I would encourage the BMA, the independent pay review bodies to do a thorough analysis and they look at recruitment rates, retention, they look at all other types of professions or similar professions so they can do a full job.
