Labour would not give nurses a 19% pay rise

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said Labour would not give nurses a 19% pay rise if they were in government, but would hold negotiations with Unison and the Royal College of Nursing.

Mr Streeting went on to say that the government should be "biting the hand" off unions offering to hold talks over NHS pay rises.

He said it was up to the government to cancel the planned strikes, but in not doing so it was a "real lack of responsibility and betrayal of patients.Ministers to hold emergency Cobra meeting amid wave of strikes