A NURSE turned MP is calling for the pay cap on public sector workers to be lifted.

Lewes Conservative MP Maria Caulfield said it would ensure a fair pay rise for thousands of staff across Sussex and the rest of the country.

The call comes after it emerged more nurses and midwives are leaving the profession than are joining.

Those under the age of retirement have cited low pay and poor working conditions, according to information compiled by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Prime Minister Theresa May is coming under increasing pressure to scrap the one per cent cap, including from senior ministers such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Ms Caulfield is a former full-time NHS nurse who still works on the wards in her time away from Parliament.

She said: “Public sector workers include some of those in the bravest professions where life and death decisions are made multiple times a day.

“These are people such as firefighters, nurses, police officers and teachers, without whom our society would not function.

“Following years of pay restraints, now is the time for the Government to look again at its spending priorities and ensure that the one per cent cap is replaced with a fair pay rise.

“I promise to vote for a fair public sector pay rise when a meaningful vote in the House of Commons occurs.”

In an interview, Ms Caulfield said most nurses worked extra shifts to make ends meet.

She said it was a “difficult, stressful, responsible job and if people aren’t paid enough so they can make ends meet they will go and do something else”.

Student nurse Graeme Stokes from Brighton said he knew people who had become disillusioned by working conditions and had quit.

He said scrapping the NHS bursary scheme for students had also led to a drop in applications for courses, putting more pressure on existing staff

Mr Stokes, who is chairman of the Brighton and Hove branch of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “I know someone who decided to leave the country and go to work in New Zealand instead.”