Striking nurses are playing into the hands of Vladimir Putin, Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi has said – drawing fury from medics.
He hit out as it emerged troops are being readied to cover for ambulance drivers and firefighters this winter, but was accused of making ‘disgraceful’ comparisons.
‘This is not a time to be divided,’ the Cabinet Office minister told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge. ‘We have to come together to send a very clear message to Mr Putin that he can’t use energy as a weapon in this way. This is not a time to strike, this is a time to negotiate.’
Mr Zahawi’s office said up to 600 military personnel were preparing to provide cover in the face of a wave of public sector strikes over pay and conditions.
He appealed to unions to drop their demands, saying that rising prices were being driven by higher energy costs due to the Russian president’s war in Ukraine.
When asked about nurses – who are due to hold two days of strikes this month – he told BBC1’s Laura Kuenssberg: ‘This is exactly what Putin wants to see – division.’
But Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, accused Mr Zahawi of ‘attacking ordinary workers whose only crime has been to refuse to take a pay cut’.
And Pat Cullen, of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘Using Russia’s war in Ukraine as a justification for a real-terms pay cut for nurses is a new low for this government.’
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