22.04.15
Health secretary: I don't know the full situation
Yesterday the health leaders of the four main English political parties engaged each other in a ‘Question Time’ format debate, chaired by Sarah Montague of the BBC.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt turned up late for the event and when the debate topic turned to pay, Labour’s Andy Burnham accused him of getting things “drastically wrong”. He also stated that there would be no real term pay cut under his party.
Asked if Hunt would commit to a pay rise for staff, the health secretary – who has been in the job since 2012 – said he couldn’t make “that commitment now because I don't know the full situation”.
If after three years in the role he doesn’t know the full situation when will he? Hunt claims that his decision on pay, which led to months of frustration and uncertainty within the service, was the “most difficult” he has had to make, adding that that the recommended 1% pay rise could have cost up to 14,000 jobs.
We all know that money is tight, but happy workers lead to a better service. To some voters, on the surface, Burnham may seem to be saying the right things at the right time in comparison to his counterpart.
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