Nurses not Nukes!

Nick Jones writes: Campaigners from Yorkshire CND and Keep Our NHS Public united at a socially distanced protest outside Leeds General Infirmary to highlight their campaign for prioritised spending on the NHS and not Trident nuclear weapons.

The Government is claiming that they cannot afford a 1% pay increase for nurses. This would give an average £333 extra annual pay increase per nurse as a thank you for their hard work during the pandemic. Not even £1 a day!

Meanwhile the Government is prioritising spending on the Trident nuclear weapons system, and is increasing the UK’s nuclear arsenal by 40%. Ongoing costs for the existing system are around £3bn per year (actual Government figures are hard to come by), but they have further committed £205 billion to the overhaul and replacement of Trident. And now there’s the cost of extra warheads too.

NHS and health and social care workers are leaving the profession because of low pay. Nurses have lost an estimated 20% of income in real terms due to the rising cost of living. We now have a nursing shortage of 40,000.

People support the NHS – its time to tell the Government to get their priorities in order:
NHS Not Trident

Find out more:

Nurses Campaign- https://www.nursesunited.org.uk/campaigns/pay-rise/

The Campaign against Trident: https://cnduk.org/join/