LABOUR slammed “preposterous” Tory comments yesterday after the Conservatives claimed that lifting the 1 per cent public-sector pay cap would trigger a financial crisis like that of Greece.

The assertion by Prime Minister Theresa May that awarding front-line emergency services workers and NHS medical staff a pay increase equal to or above the rate of inflation would bankrupt the country was met with derision after Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) and an urgent Commons question on the matter.

On the 69th anniversary of the NHS’s foundation, queries were raised about the falling wages of health service workers, including medics.