The Prime Minister and the Health Secretary have been accused of themselves being 'on strike' during the NHS strikes.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting slammed Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay for failing to negotiate with health unions and put an end to strikes.
Mr Streeting said: "The General secretary of the RCN has written to the Prime Minister but she has not heard anything from the Government for weeks.
"It looks to the country like the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary are the ones on strike. Where is the Prime Minister? Where is the Health Secretary?
"In the week of the biggest strikes in the history of the NHS, during the biggest crisis the NHS has ever faced, the Health Secretary wasn't available for interviews this morning, he's not available to MPs today, and we're meant to believe that at four o'clock in the afternoon he's talking about how to avert disruption that has been taking place all day. Don't make me laugh."
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RCN general secretary Pat Cullen on the picket line outside Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire)Health minister Will Quince, who responded on Mr Barclay's behalf, said the Health Secretary was in a Cobra meeting so could not be in the Houses of Commons.
He also said Mr Barclay did a TV interview earlier that day. However, the Health Secretary was absent from the main media round in the morning.
Health unions have repeatedly said they will call off strike action if they can negotiate with the Government in the ongoing pay dispute relating to this financial year.
But Mr Barclay is refusing to do that. Instead, the Government has been insisting it was moving on to 2023/23 pay talks - despite 2022/23 still being unresolved.
During a visit to Kingston Hospital in south-west London today, he again said: "I don't think it's right to go back to last year to last April, retrospectively.
"We should be looking forward to the pay review body that is taking evidence now and working constructively with the trade unions, to ensure that the evidence that goes to the pay review body reflects the wider pressure that the NHS has been under."
Nurses from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and ambulance workers from the GMB union walked out at the same time for the first time today in what is the biggest strike in the history of the NHS.
Nurses will strike again on Tuesday, ambulance workers again on Friday and physiotherapists on Thursday.
Ambulance workers and nurses both downed their tools for the first time today (PA)Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, speaking to broadcasters at Airbus in Filton, near Bristol, said: "The widespread strikes today are a badge of shame for the Government.
"Nobody wants to see these strikes, nobody wants to be on strike - the last thing nurses want to do is to be on strike.
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"What they do want is a Government that can show leadership, get around the negotiating table and settle this dispute.
"I think many people listening to this will be absolutely flabbergasted that the Government is still sitting this one out, not showing any leadership in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, making the situation much worse than it otherwise would be."
Responding to Mr Streeting's urgent question put to the government, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “No Health Secretary and no Business Secretary were there to answer urgent questions in Parliament today – and no response from the Prime Minister after I wrote to him this weekend. People may wonder if the government is also on strike.
“In Parliament today we heard more of the same from a government whose most senior figures seem to be missing in action.
“The Westminster government is punishing England’s nurses and looking increasingly isolated as the Welsh and Scottish governments come to the table.
“It is clearer than ever that the Prime Minister has failed to deliver on his promises to the NHS. Rishi Sunak is letting the country’s most important and beloved institution deteriorate rapidly – but it is not too late. I am urging him to come to the table to negotiate and halt this action now.”
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