The big story on most of the Scottish editions is the historic vote by nurses to strike for the first time in their battle for better pay. The Herald calls it a “catastrophe”, quoting Health Secretary Humza Yousaf’s description of how it will affect the NHS over winter.
The Scotsman highlights the significance of the ballot result and says a nurses strike before the end of the year will mean the cancellation of appointments and planned surgery. It notes that this is the first time in the RCN’s 106-year history that nurses have voted for industrial action.
“On the Brink” is how the Daily Record sees the NHS with this latest development. It, too, highlights cancelled appointments and reports the nursing union is saying “enough is enough”.
The i leads with the strikes being likely to take place before the end of the year. It also claims that the action will lead to up to six months of disruption. It says the nurses’ union the RCN cites poor pay and staffing shortages as the main reasons for the decision.
Nurses are to strike “within weeks”, says The Times which says lives will be on the line if the action goes ahead. It also pictures potential US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis who fared well despite a disappointing night for the Republicans in the US mid term elections where the predicted “red wave” failed to materialise.
The Daily Telegraph says about 30,000 nurses are expected to walk out, leaving Scotland’s NHS facing an “unprecedented crisis”. It reports unions as saying nurses have been “pushed to the edge”.
The Scottish Daily Mail takes aim at Humza Yousaf over the strike, and record waiting times, calling him a “minster for catastrophe”. The paper claims he is “clinging to his job” after 30,000 nurses voted to strike.
“Humza is to blame” agrees the Scottish Daily Express, saying that politicians and health unions had joined forces to lay the blame for the imminent nurses’ strike at the door of the Scottish government.
The effect of the strike on local hospitals is the lead in the Edinburgh Evening News which looks at how the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh will cope. It says hundreds of procedures could be cancelled.
Similarly, The Courier concentrates on Tayside, reporting that nurses in every Scottish health board voted for action. It notes the most recent pay offer from the Scottish government amounts to a flat £2,205 rise.
The National front page says the BBC has been accused of producing a “deeply flawed” report on the level of abuse MPs receive on social media.
“Food banks crisis point” in the Metro relates to record numbers of people now using food banks to get by during the cost of living crisis. The paper says 320,000 people turned to food banks for the first time in the six months to September. It also reports that milk is now seen as a “luxury” item by some families.
The Evening Express follows up a recent story about a child being able to walk out of a nursery school unnoticed with a story about the local council increasing school security.
The P&J, reports how a widow told a court her husband collapsed and died of a heart attack after a neighbour dispute turned to violence.
Another court story makes the front of the Evening Telegraph, involving a woman who threatened staff at a Lidl store with a glass jar of Nutella.
A campaign to improve conditions at an Easterhouse shopping centre makes the Glasgow Times. Dozens of protesting traders walked out of The Lochs Shopping Centre amid claims that pleas to meet with their landlord have been “ignored” and the centre is “falling into disrepair”.
Friends star Jennifer Aniston’s “secret IVF battle” is the front page story in the Scottish Sun. She has spoken for the first time about her unsuccessful attempts to have a baby. In an interview with American magazine Allure, Ms Aniston said she tried “everything”, including IVF, to have a baby with ex-husband Brad Pitt.
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