YNYS Môn MP Albert Owen joined delegrates in London pushing to “scrap the cap!”

Labour’s Mr Owen met members of the Royal College of Nursing who travelled from North Wales to London to protest against the 1% cap on public sector pay.

Nurses, student nurses, health care support workers and members of the public took part in the 90-minute rally in Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament.

The rally was organised as part of the RCN’s Scrap the Cap campaign, which calls on the Government to remove the 1% cap on NHS pay.

The pay cap has been cited as one of the reasons why nurses have been leaving their profession in droves.

While the cost of living has risen by 22% since 2010, public sector pay has on average only risen by 4.4%. A recent survey of NHS workers revealed that 73% had to ask family and friends for financial support, and hundreds of respondents said they had used a food bank.

At the rally, Mr Owen said: “I fully support the Royal College of Nursing and UNISON in their campaigns to scrap this cap on wages. This Government has chosen to continue these needless austerity measures, and our public service workers are the ones paying a heavy price.

“These workers deserve a rise and they deserve it right now. I urge the Prime Minister in the strongest possible terms to put an end to this cap immediately.”