The planned strike by nurses in England will be cut short after a High Court judge ruled the last day of the action would be unlawful.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) had planned a 48-hour industrial action in the National Health Service (NHS) in England, which would begin on the evening of April 30 and end on May 2.
But NHS Employers, which represents NHS trusts, asked the government to check the legality of the action because the RCN’s strike mandate is set to run out on May 1.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay took legal action and a High Court judge ruled in favour of the government.
Justice Linden said the outcome was “inevitable” but the RCN had forced the case to court “instead of grasping the nettle and conceding.”
He ordered the union to pay the costs of the hearing, saying the union had shown “a high degree of unreasonableness.”
Unlawful Strike
The health secretary welcomed the High Court decision.Barclay said: “I firmly support the right to take industrial action within the law—but the government could not stand by and let plainly unlawful strike action go ahead.
“Both the NHS and my team tried to resolve this without resorting to legal action, but unfortunately, following a request from NHS Employers, we took this step with regret to protect nurses by ensuring they are not asked to take part in an unlawful strike.”
Downing Street said it was “regrettable” that the government had to take legal action to stop the unlawful action.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman told reporters: “The government never wanted to take this to court. We did indeed try every possible way to avoid a court case.
“The NHS presented the RCN with clear legal evidence that their planned strike for May 2 was unlawful. We asked them to call it off. The RCN refused. That’s why the NHS asked the government to intervene and seek the view of the court.”
‘No Choice’
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “The RCN could and should have resolved this significant issue of the legality of its strike sooner.“More than a week ago now, NHS Employers approached the RCN to query whether its mandate for strike action expired at midnight on May 1, 2023, and not the May 2 they had appeared to suggest.
“The RCN vigorously rejected our assertion and we were left with no choice but to ask the secretary of state to seek the view of the courts.
“Clarity has now been achieved, not least for RCN members, and the judge has confirmed the position we set out last week: any strike action occurring on May 2 would be illegal.”
Talking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme, Mortimer said the RCN had placed itself in a “remarkable” position.
He said: “I think the judge captures the position really well, this is a remarkable position that one of the health service’s largest trade unions has placed itself in.”
“It’s important that staff can express their grievances,” he said, but added: “I think it’s even more important that is done within the law.”
‘Darkest Day’
The RCN angrily attacked the government for taking the union to court rather than trying to resolve the row.The union’s general secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement: “It is the darkest day of this dispute so far—the government taking its own nurses through the courts in bitterness at their simple expectation of a better pay deal.
“Nursing staff will be angered but not crushed by today’s interim order. It may even make them more determined to vote in next month’s reballot for a further six months of action.”
The main opposition Labour Party also criticised the government’s legal action.
During a visit to Lancashire, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “The nurses don’t want to be on strike. They want a government that’s negotiating and talking to them, not taking them to court.
“I think most people are scratching their head and saying ‘instead of going to court, just get on with resolving the underlying issues,’ so that all these people who are waiting for operations, waiting to have stuff done in hospital, can actually reduce that anxiety and get onto it.”
