Where does Esther McVey stand on pay rises for healthcare workers?

I am neither a member nor supporter of any political party and I’m too cynical to always blindly believe what politicians tell me.

In fact, I come from a long line of cynics and I somewhat subscribe to the saying my dear, departed grandmother was frequently heard to utter: ‘How can you tell when politicians are lying…you can see their lips move’.

But the fact remains, I sometimes find myself agreeing with politicians and policies from all parties.

And I quite often finding myself disagreeing.

Take, for example, the vexed question of a pay rise for nurses.

Now I believe health workers earn every penny of their salary and after the year they’ve had, they deserve a substantial rise.

The government would have us believe it doesn’t have the money to give nurses more than the one per cent pay rise and actually wants us to believe nurses can consider themselves special and very well looked after because no other public sector workers are getting anything in the way of a rise this year. So what does Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury think.

Unsurprisingly the Labour MP is outraged over the government’s one per cent pay recommendation for NHS staff.

The rise, he said, would only give an experienced nurse an extra £3.50 take home pay, adding: “Words can’t do justice to the outrage many of us are feeling after it emerged the government is recommending a miserly one per cent pay rise to NHS heroes of this awful pandemic.

“After inflation, it will amount to a pay cut.

“It’s not very long ago, Boris Johnson and government Tory ministers were clapping on the doorsteps for our NHS workers.

“Due to Covid, staff have been working pretty much every hour God sends for a year now, saving lives – including that of our own Prime Minister – while also managing the tragic consequences when patients didn’t make it.

“Doctors and nurses go into work every day anticipating they themselves might die from the virus in trying to save others.”

I don’t think Mr Amesbury’s reaction would surprise anyone.

After all we have witnessed the government finding eye-watering amounts of money when it wants to. He points to the deals awarded to private firms, saying: “Remember the £37bn wasted on the failed Track and Trace system headed up by Tory Baroness Dido Harding?

“Or what about the £30m government contract to supply millions of vials for NHS Covid tests that went to a company owned by Alex Bourne, former landlord of Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s local pub The Cock Inn? This was despite having no previous experience in the medical devices industry.”

But what of another of our MPs? Take, for example, Esther McVey, the Tory MP for Tatton.

Where does she stand on the subject of pay rises for healthcare workers?

I tried and failed to find an up-to-date quote from Ms McVey but a little research did prove somewhat enlightening.

Let’s take a little trip back in time. In 2010 the coalition government under David Cameron and Nick Clegg froze the wages of public sector workers earning £21,000 or more for two years as part of their austerity measures. This included nurses, whose starting salary was just above the £21,000 threshold at the time. From 2013, any increase to public sector wages was capped at one per cent. 

Fast forward a couple of years to 2017 when MPs voted on whether or not to lift that one per cent cap, meaning workers including nurses might get a pay rise. Needless to say, most of the Tories, and 10 members of the DUP, voted against lifting the cap and the Labour amendment failed.

Esther McVey was one of the Tories who voted against giving a bigger pay rise to nurses.

But how things change. Fast forward again to 2019 and the race to become the new leader of the Conservative Party.

Don’t forget, Ms McVey stood in the leadership election and this is what she had to say about public sector pay: “Public sector workers did much of the heavy lifting to get us through clearing up the economic mess left by Labour.

“We must acknowledge the debt that we owe these workers who have helped get us back on a sound economic footing while continuing to deliver the services upon which we all rely.

“We must always live within our means, but this must not be achieved solely on the backs of public sector workers, especially those on low and average incomes.

“My Public Sector Pay Guarantee will raise their pay in line with inflation or their pay review body’s recommendation, whichever is higher, and is for all public sector workers earning up to £50,000.

“It will ensure that we both live within our means as a country, but that we don’t balance our books on the backs of public sector workers, especially those on low and average incomes.”
Wow, that’s some statement of intent.  

Far be it from me to mention the words U-turn or flip-flop but I can’t help but wonder if she’s still the 2019 version of herself or has she reverted to the 2017 version.