Kate Garraway grills Angela Rayner on 1% NHS pay rise
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The government has hit headlines ever since Rishi Sunak’s budget last week due to the backlash from its proposed one percent pay rise for NHS workers. Today, Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard welcomed the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Angela Rayner, onto Good Morning Britain to discuss Labour’s stance as the party calls for a “proper pay rise”.
However, with Ms Rayner continually insisting on the pay rise without delving into the details, it was left to Garraway to promptly pull her up on her answers.
Shephard kicked off the debate by asking Ms Rayner outright how much Labour would offer in their proposed pay rises.
“I think the starting point would be the 2.1 percent we’d budgeted for,” Ms Rayner replied.
The Labour Party member then branded it a “slap in the face” that this figure hadn’t been met.
Ms Rayner continued to vent her frustrations while lauding the NHS key workers but failed to outline exactly where the extra percentage the government seems to have omitted would come from.
And it didn’t pass Garraway by as she interrupted one of Ms Rayner’s speeches: “I totally hear your passion and I think we all share it with the nurses getting what they deserve,
“But you do need to give more specifics,” the GMB host added.
Garraway added: “Money will have to be reallocated if you don’t like the word cut, so where would you reallocate it from?”
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition took swipes at the current regime by saying the money would come by not “squandering” lucrative contracts to people with “no experience”.
But again, Garraway wasn’t best pleased with the relatively vague response and pressed further.
She asked: “You would argue that a Labour government wouldn’t have made those squanderings you just highlighted,
“But seeing as they have been made, what would you now cut in order to make sure they have the pay rise?”
“It’s not about cuts,” Ms Rayner replied. “I think if you look at the situation that we’ve been in -“
Garraway then began speaking over Ms Rayner: “Okay, let me rephrase!
“What would you take money away from to reallocate?” Garraway asked again.
Ms Rayner hit back: “The money has been found if you look at the tax cuts to some of the big business – the money has been found.
“Our NHS workers have put their lives on the line. The government budgeted for double the amount they’re now offering to our NHS key workers.
“I think that’s disgraceful, I think they should at least honour what they said they promised the NHS workers at the start of this pandemic.
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