Streeting warns doctors no extra pay rises if they strike

Wes Streeting has warned doctors that “the public will not forgive you” as the NHS faces months of strike chaos.

- HOLLY EVANS TARA COBHAM

The health secretary said that a pay rise is not an option after doctors in England voted in favour of industrial action, which could see walkouts last until January next year. The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, had backed strike action as part of demands to secure a 29 per cent pay rise.

Warning that more walkouts will be a “disaster” for the BMA’s members and patients alike, “just as we are finally moving the NHS in the right direction”, Mr Streeting called on the union to reconsider.

He told The Times: “The public will not forgive strike action in these circumstances and nor will I.”

The dates of the strikes have not yet been confirmed, but the NHS will face huge disruption, with hundreds of thousands of appointments at risk of being cancelled if the action goes ahead.

The move would threaten to undermine Sir Keir Starmer’s key ambition to cut waiting lists and could leave the government’s new 10-year plan for the NHS, unveiled last week, in tatters.

The BMA said there is “still time to avert strike action” as it urged Mr Streeting to “come forward as soon as possible with a credible path to pay restoration”.

But the health secretary has stated that pay negotiations will not be reopened, although he has said he is willing to work with doctors on improving working conditions. He told The Times: “Patients do not support the proposed strike action and it doesn’t even command majority support among BMA resident doctors, less than half of whom actually voted for industrial action. There are no grounds for strike action now. Resident doctors have just received the highest pay award across the entire public sector. The government can’t afford to offer more and it wouldn’t be fair to other NHS workers either, many of whom are paid less.