Exclusive Byline Times Poll: Only 2% Trust the Press to Tell the Truth about Nurses' Strikes

From the weekly Bienkov Briefing on Byline Supplement. The vast majority of those polled – 84% – back nurses’ strike action for a bigger pay rise and trust striking rail workers over the Government

An overwhelming majority of the public believes that Rishi Sunak’s Government should hand striking nurses a much bigger pay rise, according to an exclusive new Byline Supplement poll, conducted by pollsters Omnisis.

The Government is currently only offering nurses an additional £1,400 this year, which would amount to a significant real-terms cut to their salaries.

However, Omnisis found that 84% of all voters believe ministers should instead raise nurses’ pay at least in line with inflation, with almost a third agreeing that it should rise above that level.

Voters also back a bigger pay rise for teachers and rail workers, according to our poll.76% said they believed teachers’ pay should rise at least in line with inflation, with 72% saying the same for rail workers.

Even more worryingly for the Government, our poll found that only a small minority of voters say they most trust ministers to tell the truth about the issue.

According to Omnisis, 65% of all voters say they most trust nurses to tell the truth about the strikes, compared to just 12% who most trust the Government.

The public is similarly sceptical about Government claims on train strikes, with just 16% saying they most trust ministers to tell the truth about them, compared to 57% who most trust rail workers instead.

Even among Conservative voters, there appears to be little trust for the Government on the issue. Our poll found that just 19% of Tory voters say they most trust ministers to tell the truth about the nurses’ strikes, compared to 61% who most trust nurses themselves.

Our poll also suggests there is little public trust in how the media is covering the current wave of strikes. Just 2% of all voters say they most trust newspapers to tell the truth about the nurses’ strikes with only 3% saying they most trust them to tell the truth about train strikes.

Broadcasters appear to be more trusted, with 9% saying they most trust outlets like the BBC and ITV to tell the truth about the nurses’ strikes and 12% saying the same about the train strikes.

Read more on the Bienkov Briefing on Byline Supplement

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