it s five weeks since nurses first went on strike this winter. yet there s no resolution in sight. in fact, the dispute is only intensifying. nurses are taking industrial action at even more nhs trusts today than they did before christmas. we want to make nursing a safe and sustainable profession for all. we want our colleagues and the patients we care for to receive the care they deserve. nurses at 55 trusts in england are on strike today and tomorrow. next month, the industrial action will be more widespread, covering 73 trusts. 12 health boards and organisations in wales will also go on strike. a decision on further strikes in northern ireland will be taken in the coming weeks, while in scotland industrial action remains paused as negotiations continue. the advice for people who have medical appointments on strike days is to assume they re going ahead if the hospital hasn t been in touch. nhs leaders are warning that the strikes couldn t come at a more difficult time for t
the commons yesterday with the scottish secretary, alisterjack, telling mps that he understood this was a serious thing, but it was primarily about the law, it was not about politics. he was adamant he was doing this because he was concerned about the impact that legislation would have. he has faced that accusation from nicola sturgeon in a bbc interview that there was politics at play yesterday, that this was all outrageous. she reckons, as she argued in that interview, that this was the culture war is playing out and the uk government was happy to get involved in that. so, yeah, look, it s a pretty fierce battle, it s going to end up with a big legal battle as well, and that debate about the issue of how easy it should be for people to change their legal sex and the age at which they should be able to do it, i think that s going to continue as well. it s probably going to play a more significant role in our politics going forward