GMB general secretary Gary Smith swatted away right-wing media attacks on workers today as he called for the Tory government to give public-sector staff the pay rise they deserve.

Asked by Sky News whether unions should agree to below-inflation wage deals from Downing Street despite soaring prices, Mr Smith instead called for ministers to look at themselves in the mirror. 

The damning intervention, which came ahead of the opening day of the union’s 2023 congress in Brighton, follows strike action by GMB members across austerity-hit NHS and ambulance services in recent months.

When asked by the Sophie Ridge On Sunday programme whether unions should start “seriously accepting pay deals with the government,” Mr Smith said: “We listen to our members, our demands are shaped by the priority of our members.

“It’s not about unions moderating their demands, it’s about the Tory Party moderating its behaviour in government and accepting that people are struggling financially and want a decent pay rise. They absolutely deserve one.”

National strike action across schools and health services has already forced Whitehall to U-turn on its claims that there is “no more money” for already cash-starved public services and the key workers that run them. 

GMB members voted to accept the government’s improved but still below-inflation NHS pay offer in late April, but the union warned that “so much more needs to be done for workers if we are all to get the NHS we need.”

The dispute is far from over, as Royal College of Nursing and Unite members have rejected the take-home wage cut.