UK government to take legal action over NHS nurses’ strikes

The government has dramatically raised the stakes in its confrontation with NHS nurses, announcing that it will go to court in an attempt to have their planned no-holds-barred strike declared unlawful.

The move came after NHS Employers, which negotiates with the health unions on behalf of the health department, said it had received legal advice indicating that the Royal College of Nursing’s six-month strike mandate expires at midnight on May 1, meaning that its plan for a 48-hour walkout ending on May 2 “does not enjoy legal protection”.

In a statement on Friday evening, Steve Barclay, health secretary, said he had “regretfully provided notice of my intent to pursue legal action to ask the courts to declare the [RCN’s] upcoming strike action planned for April 30 to May 2 to be unlawful”.

His legal action also sought “to protect nurses who could otherwise be asked to take part in unlawful activity that could in turn put their professional registration at risk and would breach the requirements set out in the nursing code of conduct”, he added.

The RCN plans to withdraw all cover, even for emergencies and other critical care, in a significant ratcheting up of its fight for a bigger pay award following the membership’s decision last week to reject the deal negotiated by its leaders.

Pat Cullen, RCN general secretary, branded Barclay’s intervention as “nakedly political. Nurses will not be gagged in this way by a bullying government”, she said.

Court arguments should only relate to May 2 and not the other strike days, she argued. Earlier she had said the union “will make the case for the legality of our action in all forums”.

Should the court rule in favour of the government, the RCN could either be forced to suspend the entire strike, or to cut it short by a day, health officials believe. Barclay said in his statement that the lack of exemptions would “put patient safety at risk”.

NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer had earlier said that the organisation had asked the RCN to “revisit” the planned action but it had declined to do so.

Barclay’s intervention comes at a sensitive time, as a number of other health unions continue to ballot their members on whether to accept the pay offer hammered out with ministers in weeks of talks that concluded in March.

Although 54 per cent of RCN members have rejected it, about three-quarters of Unison members voted to back the deal, leaving its fate in the hands of other unions, notably the GMB, whose backing could swing the overall vote in its favour when the NHS Staff Council meets on May 2.