Labour has written to Boris Johnson asking him to correct the record after Downing Street repeatedly refused to acknowledge that the prime minister was mistaken when he said the party had voted against an NHS pay deal. Asked about Johnson’s assertion at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday that Keir Starmer and his party had blocked an NHS budget bill, Allegra Stratton, the No 10 press secretary, declined 12 times to accept that he had been wrong, and indicated that he did not feel the need to correct the record. Stratton noted that Labour had raised a point of order in the Commons after PMQs to seek a correction, and that this was acknowledged by the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, which she said was sufficient to close the matter. Downing Street’s approach is likely to be seen as controversial, with Stratton facing repeated questions about whether Johnson is trustworthy. The ministerial code, to which Johnson and his team are subject, says ministers should give accurate information to parliament, “correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity”. The row began when Johnson responded to a question by Starmer at PMQs about a long-term budgetary plan for the NHS, which included provision for a 2.1% pay rise in 2021-22, as against the 1% now offered by the government. “He voted against the document in question, to crown the absurdity of his point,” Johnson told the Labour leader. However, this is not correct, as Labour did not force a vote on the bill, as shown by the official Commons transcripts. Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, made this point to Hoyle after PMQs. In a later letter to Johnson, Ashworth noted that there was no Commons vote on the measure at both its second and third readings, in January and February last year, and that the party had explicitly said it was not pushing for one. “To say that Labour voted against this bill is therefore incorrect,” Ashworth said, adding he was “surprised to hear” Stratton had repeatedly refused to say whether Johnson’s statement had been wrong. He added: “I would be grateful if you could correct the record on this.” Asked at an earlier media briefing if Johnson would apologise and correct the record, Stratton said: “The Speaker addressed it in the House immediately after the shadow health secretary and the Speaker said it was a point of clarification, and he regarded it as having been dealt with.” Questioned repeatedly on whether Johnson and No 10 accepted he was wrong, Stratton, a former journalist whom Downing Street recruited to be the face of televised press briefings, declined to say this was the case. “The Speaker regards it as a point of clarification having been made, and that’s appropriate,” she said. Asked for a yes or no answer, she said: “The Speaker has dealt with this, and he has said it was a point of clarification, and it has now been dealt with. Insisting that Johnson “is concerned about the truth of these matters”, and that he believes it is important to be accurate and correct, Stratton disagreed with the assertion that Johnson “has a problem with the truth”. “No, he doesn’t,” she said, arguing that the majority the Conservatives won in the 2019 general election “reflects the widespread admiration and affection with which he’s held by the British people”. Earlier in prime minister’s questions, Starmer challenged Johnson to put the policy of offering NHS staff a 1% pay rise to a Commons vote. In a sign of possible future movement on the issue from the government, responding to one of Starmer’s questions, the prime minister hinted that nurses in particular could get more if the NHS pay review body recommended this. “Of course we will look at what the independent pay review body has to say, exceptionally about the nursing profession, who we particularly value,” Johnson said.