Statement from National TULO warning that banning resident doctors from striking would breach Labour’s manifesto and trade union values, urging ministers to rule out any limits on the right to strike.

It’s one thing to disagree with a union’s decision to strike at a given time over a given dispute; quite another to question the right to strike itself.

The govt has a genuinely strong record here, let’s not start unpicking it now.

Jill Stein, the US Green Party candidate in 2024, said “there is no lesser evil in this race” about Trump vs Harris.

Look at the news now.

Sanctimony is no substitute for substance.

It bears repeating: suicide hasn’t been a crime since 1961. The law no longer treats it as a moral failing, and nor should we, though it is always a tragedy.

The real question is whether those in desperate situations should be denied assistance, or afforded the same agency others already have.

The two-child cap ends today. Around 480,000 families will be ~£4,100 a year better off. Britain is, quite plainly, fairer today than it was yesterday.

By today, every woman in the WASPI cohort has reached State Pension age (66). From here on, everyone, men and women, faces a higher state pension age.

A Pay Rise for Millions (TULO poster)

2.7m workers get a pay rise today as the minimum wage rises.

That’s ~£900 more a year on the NLW, and up to £1,500 for 18–20s.

This follows the government changing the Low Pay Commission remit to factor in cost of living, sounds technical, but the impact is real.

The fact Karl Turner may be right about some things doesn’t inoculate him from being wrong elsewhere.

Choosing to collaborate with a reactionary, transphobic figure tied to a rival party whose leader dismissed rape allegations as “bad sexual etiquette” was a serious error of judgement.

But this is different. Offering staff materially below what you’ve argued justifies major industrial action for members isn’t a marginal gap, it’s a contradiction.

That kind of double standard does our movement no favours.

Solidarity with GMB members at the BMA 🧡

We all understand unions can’t replicate for their own staff the very top end of the bargaining position they pursue for their members, year on year. That’s the reality of negotiations. We're trade unionists: we get it.

Previously during this pay round, the BMA were asking GMB members to accept as little as 2%, which rather speaks for itself.

The same arguments about long-term pay erosion made for doctors apply just as clearly to BMA staff, on the same methodology.

The BMA have described a 3.5% award for doctors, higher than that for nursing staff and paramedics, as a “crushing blow”.

Their own offer to staff is 2.75%, padded with a non-consolidated add-on that will have evaporated by year end.

RCN GMB members standing alongside BMA GMB members outside BMA headquarters in Tavistock Square, London, holding GMB flags and a “FAIR PAY BMA” sign on a picket line, showing solidarity.

GMB 🤝 GMB

GMB@RCN members out supporting colleagues at the BMA today.

BMA staff are on strike after being asked to accept a far weaker pay offer, while the BMA is verbose in criticising stronger deals for doctors.

Fair pay shouldn’t stop at your own staff 🧵

@gmblondonregion.bsky.social

Public satisfaction with the NHS rises for first time since 2019 Wes Streeting set to hail result as proof of progress, but Britons remain frustrated with long waits for GP hospital care

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

After the best part of a decade going backwards, NHS satisfaction is finally, demonstrably, improving. Given the scale of what Labour inherited, the real story is how quickly the ship has been turned back in the right direction, not why it isn’t fixed overnight.

96% voting for action on an 80% turnout tells its own story.

After years of pay falling behind, BMA staff have been left with an offer that doesn’t begin to close the gap.

GMB has balloted, members have spoken, and now we act. Solidarity with GMB@BMA. ✊

The BMA is verbose in championing its members, but dismissive of its own staff. GMB members at the RCN will be joining colleagues at GMB@BMA on the picket lines as they stand up to a hypocritical employer that can advocate loudly, but not deliver for its own workforce.

The reaction to the defeat of the AD bill in Scotland is telling. Many who said they support assisted dying “in principle” but opposed the Leadbeater bill are now cheering down a different model entirely. If you oppose any move to give end-of-life choice, just say it plainly.

Compared to December 2024, the total number of FTE nurses and health visitors has increased by 2%. That’s 6,127 more staff in post.

Steady expansion of the workforce is essential to cutting waiting lists and improving patient care. Progress worth building on.

NHS vacancy data for Q3 (Oct–Dec) shows real progress 👇

🔹 2,990 fewer registered nursing vacancies than last quarter
🔹 4,848 fewer than this time last year
🔹 Vacancy rate down to 5.2% (from 6.0% and 6.4%)

Encouraging signs that workforce action is starting to deliver. 📉

The government has got this right.

Nursing unions call for UK to back prosecutions for war crimes against health workers Calls come as report shows number of health workers killed in conflicts has risen five-fold in less than a decade

Story: www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

The RCN and other health unions are right to speak out today. Attacks on nursing staff and other health workers in Gaza and beyond are indefensible. These are war crimes, plain and simple. The UK must back ICC prosecutions and stand firm in defence of international law.

Sunday Times:
“The education secretary is to unveil a £500 million plan to set up 1,000 "family hubs" by 2028 in an effort to support half a million of the most disadvantaged children.”

Who we are and what we are for 😍

I can’t stress this enough: many of the big hitters came out against the assisted dying bill before it was even published. It’s become fashionable to say “support the principle, oppose the bill” — but the timeline shows most were gearing up to oppose any bill.

The government won in court last week, defeating a bizarre legal challenge from the private school lobby claiming that losing tax breaks breached their human rights. Imagine the fanfare if it had gone the other way—this was a big win for fairness that deserves more attention.

One of the best things about the labour movement is how it brings together people of all ages—people who’d otherwise pass each other in the street, united by a shared passion for the details of a trade dispute or winning a council ward off a nimby independent. It’s enriching for everyone.

The Lib Dems and Rupert Lowe both think firing off loads of questions means you’re doing a great job.

We can all agree they’re about as relevant as each other.

Responding to the US trade deal, Andrew Griffith calls it ‘a Diet Coke deal, not the real thing’.

Can I respectfully submit that Diet Coke is class — and, in all ways, better than 'the real thing.'

An FOI reveals DHSC received the NHS Pay Review Body report on 11 April. It’s now May. The pay rise was due on 1 April.

When will the government lay the report before Parliament—and give NHS staff the pay award they’ve earned and deserve?

@rcn.org.uk

The Greens claimed they were on course in the West of England—even where Labour faced real challenges, they couldn’t come second. That says it all. It’s Labour or Reform. I’m for Labour—not self-indulgent Greenery.