THE ROYAL College of Nursing (RCN) is taking strike action on 15 and 20 December in the largest nurses’ strike in UK history. After more than a decade of underfunding, health workers have seen their pay, conditions and staffing levels deteriorate to breaking point.

Nurses have lost more than 20% of their real-terms pay since 2010. The government says the RCN’s claim for inflation plus 5% (17.5%) is ‘unreasonable and unaffordable’. But during the pandemic, the government squandered £8.7bn on corrupt PPE contracts for their cronies, and the wealth of Britain’s billionaires soared by 25%.