Thousands of nurses rally outside Parliament to protest pay

Thousands of nurses are outside London's Parliament Square to protest over a cap on pay.

NHS staff carrying placards and banners have gathered outside the House of Commons as the first Prime Minister's Questions of the new parliamentary year got under way.

The Royal College of Nursing "Scrap the Cap'' rally is part of the union's campaign to remove a longstanding 1% cap on public sector pay.

A survey has revealed that almost seven out of 10 people believe nurses are underpaid.

Rachael Labourne, 46, who works as a nurse, midwife and social worker said she wanted "fair pay'' for nurses who have felt increasing financial pressure in recent years.

She said: "I'm here to ask for fair pay for nurses.

"Both my husband and I are nurses and we're finding it difficult now to support our family, but I'm passionate about what I do.''

She added: "Without the RCN behind nursing, being the voice of nursing, we wouldn't get the support we need because we don't get it from the Government."

Civil servants are to be balloted for strikes in protest over the cap on public sector pay, the sector's biggest trade union has announced.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) will vote in the coming weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.

The union said Civil Service pay had fallen by between £2,000 and £3,500 in real terms from 2010 to 2016 because of the Government's pay policy.

PCS officials said there was "escalating chaos'' in the Government over the future of the cap, which is holding down pay rises for public sector workers at 1%.

The union demanded that the cap is scrapped and replaced with pay rises of at least 5% for all public sector workers