Former Tory ministers join calls for Sunak to negotiate with nurses

After first day of strike, NHS leaders and former pay review boss implore PM and Steve Barclay to review offer

Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to negotiate with striking nurses after four former Conservative ministers joined health service leaders to call for a way out of the escalating dispute.

On a day in which England's chief nurse joined the picket line, the prime minister and the health secretary, Steve Barclay, were implored to make a U-turn and ask the NHS pay review body (PRB) to look again at the rise it recommended earlier this year.