Welsh nurses back plans for 'summer of protests' over pay

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have voted overwhelmingly to support a plan to ballot for strikes over pay.

The statement came at the RCN's annual Congress in Liverpool.

52,000 members working in the NHS took part in a poll which measured the members' appetite for industrial action.

In the ballot, nine out of ten voiced support for action short of a strike, while almost four out of five backed strikes.

Another ballot would have to be held before any action is taken.

The Royal College of Nursing warned that unless the next Government drops the 1% cap on pay it will hold a ballot on industrial action later this year, threatening the first ever strikes by its members.

While the turnout was not enough to mandate a formal ballot, Chair of Council Michael Brown said: “Getting 52,000 NHS members taking part shows the strength of feeling about pay restraint – and the percentage in favour of taking action cannot be ignored.”

The RCN has warned low levels of pay are also partly responsible for tens of thousands of unfilled nursing posts, and is demanding that the UK follows Wales' lead and protects safe staffing levels with new legislation.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething is at today's Congress in Liverpool to promote NHS Wales' campaign to encourage nurses from the UK and across the world to train, work and live in Wales.

A spokesperson for the Conservatives said difficult decisions had to be made.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Microsoft Sans Serif'}A Tory spokesman said: "Our nurses do a fantastic job.

"We've had to take difficult decisions on pay across the public sector given the deficit we inherited - while continuing to boost the NHS budget so patients get high-quality care.

"We've prioritised increasing the number of nurses to help those already working hard - with 12,100 more on our wards since 2010.

"But in truth, the only way we can increase NHS funding, staffing or pay is to get a good Brexit deal so the economy prospers in the years ahead - and only the strong and stable leadership of Theresa May can deliver that."