DOCTORS and nurses would be paid less in the north than in the south under shock Conservative plans, it was claimed last night.

The government and union leaders raised the alarm over a Tory move to set NHS pay according to "what is necessary to recruit, retain and motivate the staff and what is affordable for local healthcare providers".

They said the comment, by Conservative health spokesman Andrew Lansley, paved the way for an end to nationally set pay rates – and lower earnings in the north.

Worse, doctors and nurses would be tempted to desert hospitals in the north if offered higher salaries in the south east.

Liverpool-born health secretary Andy Burnham said: "Andrew Lansley may think it is acceptable to pay nurses in the north less than those in the south, but I don't. National pay agreements are not only fair to all, they also bring real stability to the NHS. Labour will defend them from Tory attacks like this."

That message was echoed by Unison, the public service union, which warned it harked back to Conservative policy under John Major, when local pay bargaining was "an expensive waste of time".

Karen Jennings, the union's head of health, said: "No wonder staff doubt Tory claims that the NHS is safe in their hands.

“They have not learnt the lessons from their past mistakes.

"Staff in short supply would go to the highest bidder and essential staff undervalued. We have a pay system in the NHS which delivers equal pay."