UNITE urged MPs yesterday to back a “vote of no confidence” in Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt over his seven-day NHS plans.

MPs will consider on Monday whether Mr Hunt has “alienated the entire workforce of the NHS by threatening to impose a harsh contract and conditions on first consultants and soon the rest of the NHS staff.”

A petition calling for a vote of no confidence in Mr Hunt triggered the parliamentary debate after it received more than 220,000 signatures.

Mr Hunt, an enthusiastic advocate of homeopathic remedies, has been at loggerheads with health unions since his appointment over a series of increasingly savage proposals to cut NHS spending.

The seven-day NHS plans would see existing contracts for hospital consultants torn up and replaced with new ones requiring them to work at weekends as a matter of routine.

This has been a particular source of anger, with unions pointing out that medical professionals already regularly work seven-day weeks.

Unite national officer for health Barrie Brown urged MPs to back the no confidence motion on Mr Hunt, whom he described as “probably one of the worst health secretaries since the NHS was formed in 1948.”

He said: “Seven-day services are nothing new to our members, who have provided 24/7 healthcare services for many years, but this fact has escaped Hunt’s understanding of the NHS.

“Hunt is the Health Secretary who has been more critical of health service staff since the creation of the NHS than any of his predecessors, yet now he pushes for seven-day services from staff whose value and commitment he clearly questions at nearly every opportunity.”

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