As ministers do battle with nurses, Labour is starting to set out its stall on NHS reform

After yesterday’s historic walk out by nurses, the Prime Minister is beginning to come under pressure from some in his own party to improve the pay offer for nurses. But the Government is showing no sign of backing down in the dispute.

The hope is that after months of strikes nurses and other workers will gradually lose momentum in 2023. The worry is that will not happen and we could be in a position of stalemate for the foreseeable future.

The position taken by Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay is noticeably different to that of the Scottish government whose improved deal averaging a 7.5% increase to health workers has been accepted by two major NHS unions in Scotland. This week Scotland’s first minister John Swinney said that taxes would rise for anyone earning more than £43,662 in Scotland, with the cash going into the NHS.

There is also a distinction to be drawn with Labour, who have used the strikes as an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to wider NHS reform.

While Keir Starmer has expressed sympathy for nurses and blamed the government for failing to avert the strikes through negotiations, Wes Streeting has been bolder.

The shadow health secretary recently warned that the public will lose patience with the NHS if ministers keep throwing money at it, without fundamental reforms.

In the latest move to signal that his party is serious about fixing the NHS, Streeting gave an interview to the Sunday Telegraph in which he urged his party to see the NHS as “a service, not a shrine”.

Combined with him choosing the centre right think tank Policy Exchange to deliver a speech on NHS reform later today, it’s increasingly clear that Streeting is pitching himself as a politician firmly in the Tony Blair mould of public service reformer.