Striking BMA 'will lose pay war', says Streeting

The doctors' union "will lose a war with this government", Wes Streeting has said, adding that the NHS is ready to tough out a prolonged series of strikes.

- Denis Campbell

In his most outspoken comments on the dispute involving resident doctors in England, the health secretary said Labour would never give in to their demand for a 29% pay rise.

In a plea to the British Medical Association (BMA), the health secretary urged the union to agree a deal based on tackling other frustrations doctors have that are separate from their salaries, which he said would see both sides "win the peace".

Fresh talks are planned for next week. But for them to have any chance of success, Streeting added, the BMA should agree that it will not call any more strikes and accept that other NHS staff deserve decent pay increases too, not just medics, who are already paid more than many colleagues.

"It should be clear to the BMA by now that they will lose a war with this government. It's not too late for us both to win the peace," Streeting said in an opinion piece for the Guardian online. It comes after the end of a five-day stoppage by thousands of resident doctors that disrupted NHS services, including cancer care, between last Friday and yesterday morning.

"All I ask of the BMA is two things. The first is to drop this unnecessary and unreasonable rush to strike action. It mars doctors, it harms patients and it is fundamentally self-defeating as it leaves the NHS with less money to address the issues that doctors care about," Streeting said.