Striking doctors won't beat government, says Streeting

Striking resident doctors will lose if they go to war with the government, Wes Streeting has said. The health secretary issued the warning after writing to leaders at the British Medical Association (BMA), saying he is willing to meet and resume talks in their ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.

- DAVID LYNCH

Mr Streeting said the BMA had sent him a letter asking that he return to the negotiating table after five days of strike action by resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors. “I’ve responded, with the irony of their letter being that I never left the table,” he said.

Mr Streeting added: “We are back to where we were two weeks ago, when I sat down in good faith and offered to work intensively with them over a few weeks to negotiate a package of measures that would make a real difference in meeting the costs of doctors’ training, the costs associated with being a doctor and the lack of promotion opportunities.

“The only difference between now and a fortnight ago is the damage that the BMA has done to the NHS through its reckless strike action.”

In his opinion piece for