More than 15000 ambulance workers across 11 trusts in England and Wales will begin to vote today on whether to strike over pay.

Members of the GMB union are being balloted in the coming weeks amid continuing industrial unrest in many sectors of the economy.

NHS workers in other unions, including nurses, are also being asked if they want to take strike action over pay.

The GMB said its members were angry over the Government’s imposed 4% pay award, describing it as “another massive real terms pay cut.”

Rachel Harrison, GMB acting national secretary, said: “Ambulance workers don’t do this lightly and this would be the biggest ambulance strike for 30 years.

“But more than 10 years of pay cuts, plus the cost-of-living crisis, means workers can’t make ends meet.

“They are desperate.

“This is much more about patient safety at least as much about pay.

“Delays up to 26 hours and 135,000 vacancies across the NHS mean a third of GMB ambulance workers think a delay they’ve been involved with has led to a death.

“Ambulance workers have been telling the Government for years things are unsafe.

“No one is listening.

“What else can they do?”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We value the hard work of NHS staff and are working hard to support them – including by giving over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year.

“Industrial action is a matter for unions, and we urge them to carefully consider the potential impacts on patients.”