Kemi says Tories would ban doctors’ strikes after Streeting accuses medics of trying to ‘fleece’ the public with £30bn pay demand
Kemi Badenoch has called on ministers to ban doctors from striking, accusing them of “betraying patients” by going on strike once again.
Writing for the Daily Mail, the Conservative leader says the work of paramedics is so critical that he would subject them to the same restrictions as the police and military.
Wes Streeting has accused the British Medical Association of trying to deceive the public with fee demands that could cost taxpayers £30bn a year.
The health secretary admitted the six-day strike, which begins at 7am today, will leave some patients “waiting longer than necessary in pain or anxiety” as appointments are cancelled.
Junior doctors, previously known as junior doctors, have cost NHS hospitals £3bn since 2023 in lost activity and overtime payments to colleagues.
But Mr Streeting warned it would cost 10 times more each year if he gave in to their ‘unreasonable’ demands, as he expects all other NHS workers to do the same.
Doctors are now picketing for 60 days across 15 strikes, burning through £50 million of NHS funds every day.
The Labor leadership is hopeful the total money spent so far could build ‘several’ hospitals or deliver millions of appointments, which could cut NHS waiting lists more quickly.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said doctors’ work was so critical he would subject them to the same restrictions as the police and military
The BMA is targeting a 26 per cent pay rise, on top of the 28.9 per cent pay junior doctors have received in the last three years.
The union says this will cost around £3bn a year.
But Mr Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If we assume other NHS staff would understandably demand the same, then that cost would be around £30bn a year.
‘This is more than the entire Department of Justice budget for running the criminal justice system.’
A new YouGov poll on Tuesday found a growing number of British adults are opposed to junior doctors going on strike, with the proportion now rising to 55 per cent from 33 per cent in April 2023 and 53 per cent in March this year.
According to the survey of 4,385 adults in Great Britain, about 37 percent of respondents said they currently support action.
Ms Badenoch, whose father is a GP, said Labor had given in too easily to previous pay demands and given doctors more money ‘without strings attached’.
He added: ‘The Tories have had enough. If the BMA refuses to act reasonably, the government must intervene to ensure the safety of patients.
The strikes will last six days – one of the longest strikes the NHS has ever faced – and are due to disputes over pay and job opportunities.
Tens of thousands of junior doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, joined pickets in today’s strikes (pictured). Doctors’ strikes have cost the NHS £3 billion in the last three years
‘That’s why I will ban junior doctors and consultants from going on strike – as we already do for the Police and Armed Forces.
‘We will reintroduce Minimum Service Levels across the NHS so patients know the NHS will always be there when they need it.’
The BMA’s resident doctors’ committee last month rejected a deal that would have increased paramedic pay rises to 35 per cent over the past three years and created thousands of new specialist training places to allow its members to progress their careers.
If they had accepted, some would be earning more than £100,000 a year, while those in their first year of medical school would start on an average of £52,000 a year.
Mr Streeting said it was hypocritical for the BMA to go on strike in the face of such an offer while giving its own staff a 2.75 per cent pay rise ‘on suitability grounds’.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘Why do the BMA think they can get away with telling their staff they only get 2.75 per cent because that’s all they can afford, but reject an offer of 4.9 per cent because that’s all the Government can afford?
‘It seems to me that the BMA are not willing to put their hands in their own pockets to pay their own staff, but they are more than happy to try to deceive your audience and ask them to pay more tax than I think this country can afford.’
NHS England acknowledged this week’s work stoppage – the longest ever – will be ‘difficult’, but stressed services will remain open and patients should continue to go to A&E and call 999 or 111 and attend scheduled appointments as usual unless they are contacted and told otherwise.
Health Minister Wes Streeting (pictured) said the BMA was “intransigent” and unwilling to move to “a series of increasingly absurd positions” and noted that the BMA was the biggest winner of government pay rises “by a mile”.
One patient whose appointment was canceled told BBC News he was ‘very worried’ as a result.
Adrian Emery, 55, from Nottinghamshire, was due for a telephone appointment on Tuesday after suffering a series of mini-strokes.
Her appointment, her first follow-up appointment to review medications and speak to a specialist, was initially rescheduled for mid-June, but that too has now been canceled, the publisher reported.
‘I’m very worried because my grandfather had a really serious stroke. “I hope I don’t have a complete stroke before I’m seen,” he added.
Chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, Dr. Jack Fletcher said: ‘I’m really sorry we have to take this action and I’m very sorry to the patients, but we feel we have no choice.
‘We gave the government many opportunities to avoid this, but they chose not to.’
