Amanda Holden has weighed in on the Government’s proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff, describing it as an “absolute travesty”.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge admitted she didn’t normally get involved with politics but took to Instagram on Friday to back the UK’s medical professionals.
Unite, which represents tens of thousands of NHS workers, is warning of industrial action as anger grows over the proposed salary increase.
Describing the pay rise as “pointless”, Amanda praised the NHS and key workers for keeping the country going through a “hugely trying time”.
“Wanted to say whether it’s an absolute fact or an ill timed leaked memo a 1% pay rise is pointless (by the time inflation rises) and an absolute travesty for our beloved NHS who along with many other key workers have kept the very core of our kingdom going through out this hugely trying time,” Amanda wrote.
“We clapped them, we praised them, we thanked them. Now let’s bloody show them... the money.”
On Friday, health minister Nadine Dories defended the Government’s recommendation of a 1% pay rise for NHS workers in England.
She told Sky: “Everybody in an ideal world would love to see nurses paid far more… but we are coming out of a pandemic where we have seen huge borrowing and costs to the Government.
“I think it is important to note that the priority of the Government has been about protecting people’s livelihoods, about continuing the furlough scheme, about fighting the pandemic, and we’ve put huge effort into that.
“We do not want nurses to go unrecognised – or doctors – and no other public sector employee is receiving a pay rise, there has been a pay freeze.
“But the 1% offer is the most we think we can afford which we have put forward to the pay review body.”