Ambulance strikes: East of England Ambulance Service not on strike after too few votes from Union members

East of England Ambulance Service workers are not striking on February 6.

It comes as tens of thousands of NHS nurses and ambulance staff strike across the UK over pay and conditions.

The industrial action on Monday is the first time that both NHS nurses and ambulance staff in England have stopped work simultaneously, amid an ongoing dispute.

Union leaders implored the Government to act to prevent further strike action but ministers have insisted they cannot afford “inflation-busting pay rises”.

Unions have called Monday’s walkout the biggest strike in NHS history of the country’s public health system, with Royal College of Nursing (RCN) nurses and ambulance workers join forces to take strike action.

However, ambulance workers at the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST), which covers Peterborough, will not be striking, after unions failed to reach the required threshold to take industrial action in a vote last month.

A EEAST spokesperson said: "The Trust did not reach the threshold for strike action with its unions on the first ballot and, as such, our staff are not undertaking industrial action today.

"Unison is currently conducting a second ballot of its members about industrial action which closes next month.

"At this time no industrial action has been announced."

Nurses in England last walked out on January 18 and 19 as the row with the Government continues to escalate.