British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday he was willing to discuss pay rises for nurses in a bid to end strikes that have deepened a crisis within the health service the day before the government meets with trade union leaders, reported Reuters.

The government was willing to have conversations with union leaders about pay, despite ministers previously refusing to reopen talks about this year's deal.

"We want to have a reasonable, honest, two-way conversation about pay," Sunak told the BBC per Reuters. "The door has always been open to talk about the things that nurses want to talk about, and the unions want to talk about more generally."

Additional comments

As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation. It’s not really relevant.

You have to continue to be disciplined and make the right responsible decisions in order to bring inflation down.

It's really important that we do. Its (inflation) not an abstract thing. Its impacting people.

Market implications

The news should help the GBP/USD pair to extend the latest run-up towards crossing the 1.2130 hurdle, around 1.2090 by the press time.

Also read: GBP/USD Weekly Forecast: Will Pound Sterling sellers retain control?