Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Boris Johnson should review the pay of “tireless” NHS and care staff before awarding them honours after the coronavirus crisis, the Liberal Democrats have said.
The prime minister was urged to create an additional round of honours for key workers, also including supermarket workers, teachers and others who have gone “above and beyond” by “putting their own health on the line”.
But any honours for health and care workers would be “completely devalued in the public eye” without a “full and thorough review” of their pay and conditions, Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone said.
Johnson is already looking at ways to honour those who have made a contribution like 100 year-old Captain Tom Moore, who has raised more than £32m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden.
Stone, the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, said in a letter to the PM: “It is in my view important that an additional round is introduced for coronavirus heroes just like Captain Tom, Margaret Sutherland, the shelf stackers looking after me in Tain’s local shops, and the countless other ‘ordinary people’ who have made the lockdown bearable and in many cases, survivable.
“Of course this cannot ever be a substitute for properly paying these people. I for one hope that there will be a full and thorough review of the pay and conditions for all NHS and care staff when the pandemic is over.
“Indeed I think that the great British public will wish for nothing less.
“Without this review, any honours award agreed for certain health and care staff will be completely devalued in the public eye.”
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Stone said: “We must recognise and pay tribute to those who have gone above and beyond during this crisis, whether as volunteers or in their line of work.
“Their efforts to support others have helped to keep the UK on its feet at this dreadful time.
“The government must ensure that those working right across our essential services are paid a decent wage that reflects the value of their contribution to our society and economy.”
Stone said it would also be a good time to look more closely at the honours system, which has faced allegations of cronyism in recent years as prime ministers have awarded political allies and colleagues.
“If this was seen to be a thorough overhaul, then this would help to reverse an impression that has grown in recent years - that the system far too often fails to recognise the most deserving, such as health and care workers during the present pandemic,” he told the PM.