‘People realise what we’re doing is right’: how nurses won PR battle over NHS strikes

Rishi Sunak portrays union chiefs as leftwing militants but some leaders are succeeding in blaming the impasse on No 10 - and half of voters agree

Read more: Most UK voters still back strikes by nurses and ambulance crews

Sara Gorton thought the Covid pandemic was as bad as things could get for the NHS. But now, as nurses, ambulance staff and other health workers plan more strikes in a service already on its knees, the woman leading pay negotiations for the health unions believes she was wrong. This is worse - because it is a situation we are in because of political choice," she says.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak and his ministers like to portray union leaders as leftwing militants, modern-day Arthur Scargills. By doing so they believe they can turn the public against the strikers as the disputes drag on and sympathy wears thin.