Letter to Royal College of Nursing (pledge to honour Clegg award)

Document type:	Speeches, interviews, etc.
Source:	Financial Times, 27 April 1979
Editorial comments:	Item listed by date of publication (it was read out at the RCN Conference on Guernsey). The Prime Minister’s telegram to the Conference precedes the account of MT’s letter.
Importance ranking:	Minor
Word count:	154
Themes:	General Elections, Pay, Health policy

Pledge to safeguard nurses' pay

Mr James Callaghan today guaranteed that nurses' pay would never fall behind again. The Prime Minister told the Royal College of Nursing in a telegram that the standing commission on pay comparability was set up to ensure that, and added: “I can guarantee that after May 3, a Labour government would ensure the permanence of this standing commission.”

Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, Opposition leader, promised in a letter read out at the college's annual congress in Guernsey that pay settlements already agreed would be honoured. “We will respect the comparability commission's recommendations. However, as Mr Healey told the House, off-setting economies might have to be made to finance them.”

The letter added that the Conservative Party admired the nurses' decision not to strike.