An overwhelming majority of the public believe that Rishi Sunak’s Government should hand striking nurses a much bigger pay rise, according to an exclusive new poll by Omnisis for the Byline Times Supplement.
The Government is currently offering nurses an additional £1,400 this year, which would amount to a significant real-terms cut to their salaries.
However, Omnisis found that 84% of all voters believe ministers should instead raise nurses’ pay at least in line with inflation, with almost a third agreeing that it should rise above that level.
Voters also back a bigger pay rise for teachers and rail workers, according to our poll.
76% said they believed teachers’ pay should rise at least in line with inflation, with 72% saying the same for rail workers.
Our poll also found that only a small minority of voters say they most trust ministers to tell the truth about the issue.
According to our results, 65% of all voters say they most trust nurses to tell the truth about the strikes, compared to just 12% who most trust the Government.
The public are similarly sceptical about Government claims on train strikes, with just 16% saying they most trust ministers to tell the truth about them, compared to 57% who most trust rail workers instead.
Even among Conservative voters, there appears to be little trust for the Government on the issue. Our poll found that just 19% of Tory voters say they most trust ministers to tell the truth about the nurses’ strikes, compared to 61% who most trust nurses themselves.
The poll also suggests there is little public trust in how the media is covering the current wave of strikes. Just 2% of all voters say they most trust newspapers to tell the truth about the nurses’ strikes with only 3% saying they most trust them to tell the truth about train strikes.
Broadcasters appear to be more trusted, with 9% saying they most trust outlets like the BBC and ITV to tell the truth about the nurses’ strikes and 12% saying the same about the train strikes.
The full data is here: https://www.omnisis.co.uk/poll-results/vi-14-results-16-12-2022/
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