An NHS nurse is hoping to be crowned Miss England – so she can campaign for better pay for colleagues.
Rebecca Sinnarajah, 22, will swap her scrubs for glamour when she takes part in the pageant final later this year.
And if the paediatric nurse takes the title, she has vowed to fight for salary hikes after her profession was cruelly snubbed by the Tories.
Nurses, porters and care workers were left out of a list of 900,000 public sector employees handed wage hikes – after they selflessly battled Covid.
Rebecca, who works at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London, said: “I’ve seen first hand over the past four months how hard nurses have worked.
“We’ve put our lives on the line and it hurts to be told we aren’t worthy of a pay rise. The clapping from the public was great but it shouldn’t end there. We needed fairer pay.
“We’ve played a vital role, often working 12 hours a day, and it’s upsetting that we seem to have been forgotten.
“If I win Miss England I definitely want to advocate for the profession.”
Rebecca also wants to be voice for the young after seeing how children’s mental health has been affected during the pandemic.
She was moved from her paediatric ward to help out other struggling departments at the peak of the coronavirus crisis.
She said: “I’d only been a nurse for a few months and was learning as I went. Then Covid came along and changed everything.
“All the staff stuck together and the support has been great but it’s had a big impact on us all.”
Rebecca was inspired to bid for the Miss England crown by last year’s winner Bhasha Mukherjee – a 24-year-old junior doctor.
She said: “Bhasha was the first South Asian to win Miss England. I come from a Sri Lankan background so it gave me hope. I thought if she’s a doctor and can do this, so can I.”
Rebecca, of Ealing, West London, was one of 15 hopefuls sent through during virtual semi-finals held on a Zoom video link.
The finals will be in Birmingham in October, subject to Covid, and the winner will represent England on the Miss World stage.
Rebecca said: “There are loads of critiques about Miss England but it is not about looks, it is about being an inspirational woman.”