5-DAY DOCTORS' STRIKE IS A 'THREAT TO LIVES'

STRIKING doctors were accused of threatening patients' lives last night as they start a five-day walkout over pay today.

- Steph Spyro and Hanna Geissler

Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew blasted the "irresponsible, unnecessary, wrong" industrial action and accused ministers of "political cowardice that invited this chaos".

He warned that Labour's decision to bow to the demands of the British Medical Association with a generous pay deal last year backfired. Mr Andrew insisted: "Rather than resolving tensions, Labour's capitulation has emboldened further industrial action at a time when patients can least afford it." Writing in the Express, he said the strike "threatens to plunge the NHS into crisis". He added: "Resident doctors walking off the front line and on to the picket line is a threat to lives. Every cancelled operation, every missed appointment, every delay in emergency care is a direct consequence of a Government too weak to say no to union over-reach." PM Sir Keir Starmer yesterday issued a last-ditch appeal for doctors not to join industrial action, saying: "Our NHS and country needs you.

"The BMA leadership should be under no illusions. Whatever their motives, this action will play into the hands of those who do not want our NHS to succeed in its current form.

"Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage. It's not fair on patients. It's not fair on NHS staff who will have to step in for cover for those taking action. And it is not fair on taxpayers."

Disruption