An independent Pay Review Body has recommended that nurses should be awarded a pay rise of 2.5% backdated to 1 April 2007.

The Labour Government has refused to agree to this recommendation. Instead the pay award will be phased in.

This means that nurses will get a pay award of 1.9% - below inflation. For a typical registered nurse this means a loss of nearly £600 a year.

The devolved government's in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all agreed to fund the pay rise in full. It is only nurses in England who will now miss out.

Liberal Democrat campaigner Mike Bell said: "It is a disgrace that this government is treating our nurses so shabbily.

"I was a student nurse myself and I left the profession because of the lack of support. 15 years on and the situation has not got any better for our hardworking and dedicated nurses.

"Gordon Brown must be made to listen. He can find billions to continue Tony Blair's illegal war in Iraq - but he cannot find the money to give our nurses a fair deal."