STAND UP TO THE UNIONS...BAN DOCTORS STRIKES

Tory leader tells PM 'show some backbone' as NHS struggles to cope with walkouts

- MARTYN BROWN Political Editor

KEMI Badenoch has called on the Prime Minister to "show some backbone" and ban doctors from striking.

The Conservative leader condemned the government for "failing patients", as health chiefs warned the damaging effects of industrial action will continue beyond January. Mrs Badenoch said children and pensioners will suffer this Christmas because of Keir Starmer's inaction, with hospitals straining to deal with the worst flu outbreak in years.

Her blistering attack came as shocking footage revealed the scale of the crisis, with patients lined up in beds along corridors.

The video, secretly filmed by ITV News, showed pensioners among those waiting on trolleys outside A&E at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in Lancashire.

Writing in the Daily Express, Mrs Badenoch warned: "Once again, patients are paying the price for Labour's political failure.

"But this is not theoretical harm.

It is cancelled operations, missed cancer appointments. There will be parents watching their kids suffer and pensioners left in pain and all because Labour won't stand up to the doctors' unions." The Tory leader challenged Sir Keir during Prime Minister's Questions over his "broken promise" of failing to prevent the latest walkout after resident doctors abandoned colleagues hours earlier.

She said yesterday: "He promised to end the doctors' strike.

"He gave the doctors a 28.9% pay rise. What did he get in return? This morning they have gone back on strike for the third time, in the middle of winter, in the middle of the worst flu crisis in years. This shouldn't be allowed. We already banned strikes by the police and the Army. Why doesn't he put patients first, show some backbone and ban doctors' strikes?" Responding, Sir Keir said: "Let me be clear about the strikes.