Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Government’s NHS pay decision, said:

“We support pay restraint, including in the NHS, but it’s unfair for NHS staff to be singled out in this way. The Pay Review Body has looked carefully at the issue and the Government should not have rejected its advice and gone further than a one per cent cap, which the Chancellor himself announced.

“If David Cameron hadn’t wasted £3 billion on a reorganisation nobody wanted, the NHS would have a much better financial outlook than it has today. His reorganisation resulted in six-figure pay-offs for thousands of senior managers and pay cuts for nurses. That is the reality of the NHS under David Cameron.

“It will be galling for nurses hearing this news today - they work flat out in difficult circumstances. Morale is already low and this broken promise by Ministers will damage it even further.”