Image source, Reuters

The forthcoming strike in England by members of the Royal College of Nursing has to be cut short by a day, a judge has ruled.

The walkout is due to start at 20:00 BST on Sunday and was going to last until 20:00 on Tuesday.

But it must now end on Bank Holiday Monday, following the legal judgement at the High Court.

The judge ruled that the RCN's six-month mandate for strike action would have lapsed by Tuesday.

The case was brought after NHS Employers said it believed the last day of the planned strike was not covered by the mandate as the ballots closed on 2 November 2022 at midday.

It had argued that could invalidate the whole strike and urged the government to look into the case.

The government ended up just contesting the part of the strike that fell on the 2 May, the Tuesday.

Ahead of the court hearing the RCN said it would have to accept the judgement as it would "never do anything illegal".

But it accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of bullying nurses and using "draconian anti-trade union legislation".

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