Mr. Alan Williams:

If, as the hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Jones) suggests, nurses are being used as a political football, is it not the case that at the moment it is the Government who are putting the boot in? Is it not a fact that in Wales, unlike in Scotland and in England, the Welsh Office is delaying the announcement of the final settlement of the pay review? Is it not clear from the evidence that has been submitted by the health authorities that Welsh nurses have been disadvantaged for many years because a higher proportion of nurses in Wales are undergraded than is the case in England? Why, therefore, must the Welsh Office try to enforce a settlement on the authorities that will match the settlement in England? Is the Welsh Office so impotent that the Treasury can just walk all over it? [Interruption.] The Secretary of State laughs. We know that he does not take anything very seriously. Will he explain to the nurses of Wales why, as a result of his intervention, they will not have their back pay by Christmas, whereas their counterparts in England and Scotland will?