YORK Central Labour MP Rachael Maskell says she is backing nurses who have decided to go on strike next month 'because they should be respected and paid a decent wage.'

The MP spoke out after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that its members will stage a national walk out on December 15 and 20 in a dramatic escalation of the pay row raging across the NHS.

She said: “Nurses are on their knees and Government have not heeded their cries.

"When the cost of living is out of control, Government cannot restrain pay and expect our hard pressed nursing staff to roll over and roll into greater levels of poverty.

"Nurses have lost 20 per cent off the value of their pay, while housing and living costs have shot up over the same period.

"Nurses can no longer afford to live in places like York, and some NHS workers have had to resort to food banks.

“We have seen the dedication and self-sacrifice of our nurses over the last few years, working in the most challenging of circumstances, exhausted and emotionally drained, but still giving their all.

"They deserve so much more. Had Government closed access to tax havens, rid itself of the Non Dom status and applied a comprehensive tax to the oil and gas companies they could have more than paid our professional, caring, loving and skilled nurses.

“I will back the nurses because they should be respected and paid a decent wage. It’s time Government did its job and settle this dispute, or make way for a government that would.”

York Outer Tory MP Julian Sturdy and Thirsk & Malton Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake have been asked for their views but have not yet responded.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay has said he is 'hugely grateful' for the hard work and dedication of nurses and 'deeply regrets' some union members will be taking industrial action.

He said: “These are challenging times for everyone and the economic circumstances mean the RCN’s demands, which on current figures are a 19.2% pay rise, costing £10 billion a year, are not affordable."