Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

"There is no sense of an actual strategy," complains one union leader, fresh from talks with government ministers.

Whether you're waiting for a hip operation, a new passport, wondering what you're going to do with your kids when their teachers leave the classroom for the picket line, or are a university lecturer worried about losing pay when you protest, walkouts aren't anywhere close to coming to an end.

Whoever you blame, a winter of widespread industrial discontent might be followed by a summer of strikes under Rishi Sunak, and it's simply not clear how the government intends to deal with it.

Take nurses first.

Their strike action earlier in the year was unprecedented. A bitter back and forth with ministers was eventually to be resolved with an offer of a 5% pay rise and a one-off payment of at least £1,655.

The nurses' union leader, Pat Cullen, who'll be with us in the studio, told her members it was worth accepting.

But they said no.

So the strikes are back on, and will be more significant, with staff being withdrawn from emergency departments for the first time.

• Read Laura’s piece in full here

Image source, PA Media

Today’s main guest on the show is RCN nursing union general secretary Pat Cullen who has an interesting back story.

As the top official for the RCN, Cullen represents more than 465,000 registered nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants and nursing students. Around 300,000 of these are nurses, representing two-thirds of the profession.

A former psychiatric nurse, she has previously said nursing was "in her blood", external.

The 58-year-old grew up in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone. She is the youngest of seven siblings, with six sisters and one brother.

She says she was inspired into the profession by her eldest sister, who would come home in a "beautiful uniform", talking passionately about her last shift.

Working as a community psychiatric nurse during the height of Northern Ireland's Troubles, Cullen recalled the impact of the violence on mental health being "shocking".

In her own words, she describes herself, external as someone who will follow through on something she believes in "to the bitter end":

"I have a really wicked sense of humour. That gets me through. And I'm tenacious. I'm definitely tenacious. When I believe in something I'll follow it through to the bitter end, I absolutely will."

• Read more about Pat Cullen’s journey to becoming head of the RCN here

On Friday, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced its members would walk out for 48 hours on 30 April over the first May bank holiday, after rejecting the government's pay offer in England.

The 48-hour walkout from 20:00 BST on 30 April to 20:00 on 2 May will involve NHS nurses in emergency departments, intensive care, cancer and other wards, who are taking industrial action for the first time.

The RCN says this new strike will mean some critical care services, such as intensive care, will not be staffed on strike days - something which did not happen in previous walkouts.

The award on the table was for a 5% pay rise for 2023-24. Members of the Unison union - which includes some nurses and ambulance crews - have accepted the pay offer.

As usual on a Sunday morning, there is a panel of guests to help Laura Kuenssberg pick over this week’s interviews and look more broadly at the issues raised. Sharing their thoughts this week will be:

• Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers - the group which represents health service organisations in England
• Mark Bailie, chief executive of financial comparison site Compare the Market
• Economist and journalist Stephanie Flanders

In her first broadcast interview since the Royal College of Nursing rejected the government’s revised pay offer for NHS nurses in England, the union’s general secretary Pat Cullen is on this week’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

RCN members voted by 54% to 46% to reject a pay deal which would’ve awarded them a 5% pay rise for 2023-24 and an extra one-off lump sum of at least £1,655 to top up the past year's salary.

The RCN has also called a new strike by its members in England for the bank holiday on Monday 1 May. NHS bosses say this will make running services safely “very, very difficult”. But the RCN says the government has to come up with an improved offer.

We’ll also hear from Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting. The key question for Labour is not just how they would settle unrest in the NHS - junior doctors ended their four-day strike in support of a 35% pay rise yesterday - but also how they would fund wage hikes.

Speaking for the government today is Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands. The UK has been plagued by industrial unrest for months now - and while some workers have accepted updated pay claims, in key areas disputes seem deadlocked. Expect Hands to be questioned about the government’s differing approaches to tackling industrial action.

Also on the show is Carole Mundell - she’s the director of science at the European Space Agency which last week launched a mission to explore the icy moons of Jupiter.

Rob Corp
Live reporter

Welcome to our live coverage of this morning's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. After a brief break for Easter Sunday, the show is back on BBC One, iPlayer and streaming in this page from 09:00 BST.

It looks like a busy one, with plenty to chew over as the NHS in England braces itself for new strikes by nurses belonging to the Royal College of Nursing union after they voted to reject the government's latest pay offer.

The big question we're hoping to answer this Sunday is whether the RCN will hold co-ordinated strike action with junior doctors who are currently in dispute with the government over pay. Such a move would likely heap huge pressure on the NHS - but it's not clear whether that would happen. So we'll be listening closely to RCN leader Pat Cullen to see in which direction this dispute is heading.

Away from such earthly matters, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg will also hear from Carole Mundell of the European Space Agency to find out more about its Juice project to explore the icy moons of Jupiter.

Stay with us for all this and more over the next few hours.