06-05-2025
Wes Streeting slams ‘premature' call for junior doctors to strike
Wes Streeting has criticised junior doctors for starting a strike ballot before the government has even made a pay offer, claiming they are asking for a rise of more than 10 per cent this year.
The health secretary said the vote was 'unnecessary' and 'premature', warning doctors that the NHS may not survive if Labour's recovery plan is wrecked by another bout of strikes.
He promised resident — junior — doctors 'a good pay offer', but insisted that their demands at a meeting last week would be unaffordable.
• The Times view: Labour must stand firm against junior doctors calling for strikes
The British Medical Association announced on Friday after a meeting with Streeting that it would ballot for strikes, saying that he had refused
