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Politics Weekly UK

The power of the union? Politics Weekly UK

Politics Weekly UK

The Guardian

News, Politics

4.01.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Harris joins nurses striking on the picket line to find out what life is really like for them. He speaks to Christina McAnea, the head of the union Unison, to find out what it is like negotiating with Conservative ministers. Plus, John is joined by the Guardian’s political editor, Pippa Crerar, and Scotland correspondent, Libby Brooks, to run through the ramifications of the UK government blocking Scotland’s gender recognition bill. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/politicspod

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is The Guardian.

0:13.2

Once again, nurses are out on strike.

0:15.9

It's breaking all of us.

0:17.5

Morale is so low at the moment, trying to help each other,

0:20.2

but you can't stop someone from drowning when you're drowning yourself.

0:24.4

The government is responding by pushing through strike legislation

0:27.4

that could stop some workers from withdrawing their labour.

0:31.7

Meanwhile, in Westminster, Rishi Sunak seems to have started another battle,

0:36.4

this time with the Scottish Government.

0:38.4

This is a UK government that sees an opportunity to stoke a culture what,

0:42.0

but in doing so, undermining the Scottish Parliament and we will defend it.

0:45.8

Two fights for Rishi Sunak and his government,

0:47.6

but how will each of them play out, and John Harris,

0:50.4

and you'll listen to politics in the UK for the Guardian?

0:57.5

It's Wednesday morning, it is freezing cold,

1:04.9

and we're outside the University College Hospital on the Houston Road in London.

1:10.9

Looking at the sort of up-close reality of the nurses being on strike,

1:15.7

this is the first day of a two-day strike, and there are scores if not hundreds of nurses

1:22.0

standing outside. Over there there's a table with sort of snacks on it,

1:27.6

and every sort of 20 or 30 seconds,

1:32.0

somewhere on the vehicle on the road here, honks their horn in support.

1:37.2

That's sort of defiant and spirited, and this isn't about some technicality or,

...

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