Covid-19 Update Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateRichard Burgon
Main Page: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)Department Debates - View all Richard Burgon's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(3 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberI agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. As someone who has also been the Local Government Secretary and the Business Secretary, I agree with him even more, just directly from that experience.
The new Health Secretary has not been on the Front Bench for a year, but in that time he has been very busy—very busy indeed, lining his own pockets. He has been getting £1,500 per hour for his second job and £1,500 for his third job, all while NHS staff at Seacroft Hospital and St James’s University Hospital in my constituency have been working harder than ever, getting our communities through this covid crisis. Given that he has done very well out of the past year, bagging hundreds of thousands of pounds during a national crisis, would it not be the height of hypocrisy for the new Health Secretary to refuse our NHS staff the pay rise they so clearly deserve?
The hon. Gentleman is going to have to try a lot harder than that.