Opinion: Labour not ready to let the Government off the hook on NHS pay
Labour is not prepared to let this one go. It knows it has the Government in a tough spot on an emotive issue.
Our NHS workers, the heroes of the pandemic, responsible for saving countless lives, including that of the Prime Minister himself, not being given what many will feel they deserve.
So it is no surprise Angela Rayner was so eager to discuss the topic when she sat down with the Express & Star. It's one of the few areas Labour has been able to land a blow on the Government over recent months as Boris Johnson basks in the glow of the remarkable vaccine roll-out.
The deputy leader was presumably not so keen to talk about why Sir Keir Starmer and Labour are lagging so far behind in the polls and whether he has made the impact expected of him in his first year as opposition leader.
She also declined to set out exactly what level of pay rise Labour would give to NHS workers, only saying they would enter negotiations. All criticism and no detail of what they would do themselves? It's a stick Sir Keir has repeatedly been beaten with by Boris Johnson.
But in Wolverhampton, one of the 'red wall' areas where Labour seats were lost in 2019, Ms Rayner will hope painting the Conservatives as the same old Tories who are more concerned about looking after their own, such as Dominic Cummings, than giving our NHS heroes a pay rise will strike a chord.
