- Published
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the government to give the NHS's "Covid heroes" a bigger pay rise.
It comes as it emerged the government is recommending a 1% increase for NHS staff in England next year.
Health unions have called the suggested rise a "kick in the teeth" for staff who had given "absolutely everything" during the pandemic.
But ministers have defended the proposal at a time when the economy is under "huge pressure".
The pay recommendation was made by the Department of Health in a submission to the independent panel that advises on NHS salaries.
It suggested any award above that would require cuts to services with a "re-prioritisation" of funding.
'Bitterly disappointing'
But the government is facing a backlash over the proposal, with unions condemning the "pitiful" rise.
Sir Keir said it would amount to a cut in real-terms, tweeting : "You can't rebuild a country by cutting nurses' pay."
The Royal College of Nursing's general secretary, Dame Donna Kinnair, said it would result in an increase of just £3.50 a week in take-home pay for an experienced nurse.
She said: "This is pitiful and bitterly disappointing. The government is dangerously out of touch with nursing staff, NHS workers and the public.
"Nobody would think that is fair in the middle of a pandemic and it will do nothing to prevent the exodus from nursing."
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, who chairs the British Medical Association council, said it came as a "kick in the teeth" after a decade in which doctors had experienced real-terms pay cuts of up to 30%.
"This is a total dereliction of the government's moral duty and obligation to a workforce that is keeping the NHS on its feet and patients alive," he said.
Unison head of health Sara Gorton said: "A 1% pay rise is the worst kind of insult the government could give health workers who've given their absolute everything over the past year.
"The public will be horrified. Staff will think it's some kind of joke."
But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng defended the proposal, adding that while the NHS had been "first class", many people in the private sector faced losing their jobs.
Appearing on BBC Question Time, he said: "No one is doubting the NHS has been absolutely first class in this whole pandemic. What I am suggesting is that the whole economy has been under huge pressure.
"When I look at people in the hospitality sector, in aviation, in retail, many of them are very, very worried they won't even be in a job in two or three months."
NHS pay in England has been out of the news since 2018 when a three-year deal was agreed and welcomed by unions.
But the issue is firmly back on the agenda with a new deal needed for the upcoming financial year.
This is just the start of the process.
The government has made its submission to the NHS Pay Review Body. But the fact that ministers think a 1% pay rise is reasonable has angered health unions.
They see it as scant reward for the huge efforts of staff during the pandemic.
Government sources say that inflation is so low that 1% still represents a real terms increase and that public finances are constrained.
This is shaping up to be a tense few months with pay added to the many difficult issues facing the NHS.
One nurse, Carmel O'Boyle, said she was "disgusted".
"We just want something that reflects the work that we do. We want a fair wage and I don't think the government understands at all what the nursing workforce does," she said.
"I understand it is a very difficult year for the whole world... but this is a political decision," she added.
How is public sector pay awarded?
- Pay awards for approximately 45% of the public sector - including the armed forces, the police, teachers, the senior civil service and the NHS - are decided by government ministers based on the recommendation of eight Pay Review Bodies
- Pay Review Bodies are independent, non-departmental public bodies who issue annual reports based on remits set by ministers
- Pay for NHS staff was exempted from the public sector pay "pause" announced by the chancellor for 2021-22
A government spokesperson said they would "consider carefully" the recommendations made by the NHS Pay Review Body when it reports in the spring.
The government "will continue to provide pay rises for NHS workers", despite the wider freeze on pay in the rest of the public sector, the spokesperson said.
They added multi-year pay deals had delivered a pay rise of over 12% for newly qualified nurses, and will increase junior doctors' pay scales by 8.2%.
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