Ban doctors from 'militant' strikes, Badenoch urges PM

Kemi Badenoch has offered to work with the Labour government “in the national interest” to tackle the “militant” doctors’ strike - but only if Sir Keir Starmer reverses a key election pledge.

- DAVID MADDOX

With resident doctors - previously called junior doctors - in the middle of a five-day strike over their demand for a 29 per cent pay rise, the Tory leader has warned that “people are going to die” as a result.

Speaking to Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News, she said the government needs to go back on its plans to scrap the minimum service guarantee during walkouts that the previous Conservative government brought in to tackle striking doctors.

She also wants the government to ban doctors from going on strike, placing them in the same category as the police and military.

The row comes at a difficult time for the government with health secretary Wes Streeting facing a legal challenge from physician associates after he limited their roles at the same time as doctors going on strike.

But Ms Badenoch’s remarks have provoked fury among trade unions who have pushed the government to stick to its workers’ rights package. They have also fuelled anger over the way Tory and Lib Dem peers are holding up the workers’ rights legislation in the House of Lords, with more than 600 amendments proposed.

The bill is at its third and final reading with peers when they come back from the summer recess, but looks set to be amended and sent back to the Commons for a rethink. There are fears that the delay by so-called “ping pong” between the two houses of parliament will mean that the package may not be implemented for months.