‘Not fair’ for troops to cover for strike action at Christmas, Dowden says

It is “not fair” that armed forces personnel are having to cover for striking workers over the festive period, Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden has said.

The Chancellor the Duchy of Lancaster urged unions to call off the industrial action and “give the military a break this Christmas”, as he insisted ministers will remain “resolute” in their stance on public sector pay despite nurses threatening further disruption in the new year.

Mr Dowden, who last week chaired two Cobra meetings on the issue, said the Government is “always willing to talk” with the unions, but resisted calls for inflation-busting wage hikes, warning they would end up making everyone poorer.

It comes as ministers have announced controversial plans to deploy 1,200 troops to cover for striking ambulance drivers and border staff this winter, alongside more than 1,000 civil servants.

Unions have branded the military deployment a “desperate measure”, warning the servicemen and women are not “sufficiently trained” to plug staffing gaps on the front line, while the Chief of the Defence Staff has said the armed forces should not be treated as “spare capacity”.

Mr Dowden said it is “not fair” the troops will have to shoulder the extra burden during the holidays, as he urged unions to call off the strikes and “give the military a break this Christmas”.

“I know the sacrifice that they are making in fulfilment of their duty,” he told Times Radio.

Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has vowed to stage a fresh wave of more severe strikes in January if there is no movement from ministers in the 48 hours after its members walk out on Tuesday.

Mr Dowden said “our door is always open to engagement with the unions”, but maintained the official position that the RCN’s demand for a pay rise of 5% above inflation is “simply not affordable”.

He argued there is “logic” in sticking to the recommendations of the NHS’s independent pay review body, because they are “supposed to take the politics out of this”.

“I would say to people across the private and the public sector… we’re trying to be reasonable, we’re trying to be proportionate and we’re trying to be fair,” he told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.

“But in return, the unions need to be fair and reasonable. They should call off these strikes and give people a break.”

Mr Dowden defended the Government’s “robust” estimates of the financial impact of bowing to union pay demands, despite some controversy over the figures.

He said that if everyone in the public sector were to receive a pay rise in line with CPI inflation next year, based on current levels, that would cost £28 billion, or families £1,000 each.

Given nurses are asking for 5% above RPI inflation, Mr Dowden suggested ministers may even be “underestimating” the potential cost.

“I spent a lot of yesterday and the day before discussing exactly these numbers. These are robust numbers,” he told Kuenssberg.

The Lib Dems accused Mr Dowden of deploying “scare tactics” and “playing politics” with the public.

Arrangements have been made for 1,200 troops from the Army, Navy and RAF to help mitigate disruption from widespread walkouts over the festive period, with more than 1,000 civil servants also drafted in to lend a hand.

Ambulance crews in England are due to walk out for two days on December 21 and 28 in a row over pay, while border staff in the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will strike for eight days from December 23 until New Year’s Eve.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said on Saturday his “number one priority” was keeping patients “as safe as possible” as he reiterated the Government’s position that union demands are unaffordable.

But Unite, which is co-ordinating the ambulance strikes with GMB and Unison, accused ministers of “hollowing out” the NHS, maintaining that those taking industrial action are in fact “trying to save the service”.

On Sunday, Unite’s national lead officer Onay Kasab said using the military to backfill vacant roles amounted to a “desperate measure”.

“This is a hard-pressed organisation of low-paid working-class people who don’t need this on top of everything else they are currently having to deal with,” he told Times Radio.

GMB and Unison have claimed those in power opted to “dig in their heels” on pay with the health service “already on its knees”, making disruption appear “inevitable”.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said it appears “the door is shut” by the Government on pay negotiations, as he warned strikes will inflict “harms” on the health service.

He told BBC Breakfast it is “really important” the unions recognise that a commitment to “protect life and limb” stretches beyond cover for a “dire emergency” such as a traffic accident or heart attack.

Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, described an “increasingly intolerable strain” on NHS and social care services, noting the upcoming week is likely to be “particularly tough” for those working in urgent and emergency care.

Labour shadow minister Stephen Kinnock warned that nurses are resorting to “eating the leftovers from patients’ meals” while the Government seeks to “smash working people”.