BMA dismisses Starmer’s 48-hour warning over resident doctors’ strike plan – UK politics live | Politics
Grooming gangs investigation to examine role of ethnicity, culture and religion
The grooming gangs inquiry will directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influences crime and whether these shape the institutional response, according to the Press Association report.
BMA rejects Starmer’s 48-hour warning over junior doctors’ strike plan and calls for talks, not ‘threats’
Good morning. Keir Starmer He then chairs a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to discuss the Iran war, but internal problems remain unresolved and he (or rather his staff) also finds time to write an article for the Times with a warning to UK resident doctors who are planning to go on strike. Like Jamie Grierson The Prime Minister is threatening to withdraw offers of thousands of extra NHS training positions for junior doctors unless they call off the strike within 48 hours, according to reports.
According to what Doctor Jack FletcherThe chairman of the BMA junior doctors’ committee said in an interview on the Today program this morning that Starmer may achieve as little success in his ultimatum as Donald Trump’s inconsistent and increasingly apocalyptic warnings about what’s left of the Iranian government.
Fletcher Today said:
I’m very happy to sit down with the government at any point and try to reach an agreement, but I don’t think that’s done by writing to the newspapers and making unilateral threats.
He also claimed that the BMA was pushed into a strike because the government changed the terms it offered at the last minute. He said:
The government made very late changes to the salary offer, reducing the salary investment and extending it over a longer period in a way that was not previously discussed.
Ministers effectively moved the goalposts on the deal at the last minute.
However, these negotiations are not about arbitrary cuts as the Prime Minister thinks.
Once a reliable and sustainable offer is on the table, all ‘deadlines’ disappear.
Our focus remains on securing a good deal for both doctors and patients, and we are seeking to meet with the government once again later today to achieve a meaningful outcome that would see the strikes called off and a pay deal agreed that we can support.
When asked whether it was true that he was personally in favor of giving members the option to vote on the salary proposal, Fletcher replied:
Two weeks ago the government took this investment, reduced it and then spread it over three years. This is a very, very, very different outcome than the outcome we discussed just two weeks ago.
Here is the agenda of the day.
9am: The Ministry of Internal Affairs publishes terms of reference for the investigation into national grooming gangs.
Morning: Greens leader Zack Polanski has launched his party’s campaign for the Senedd elections in Cardiff.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch visits south-west Hertfordshire.
Morning: SNP leader and Scottish first minister John Swinney is campaigning in Dundee and Stirling. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamiliton and Scottish Labor Party leader Anas Sarwar are also holding media-focused campaign events.
11am: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick hold a press conference at Heathrow airport to announce the cost of living announcement.
Afternoon: Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to discuss the Iran war.
Starmer will also meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara in Downing Street today.
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