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Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, has urged junior doctors in England to call off a five-day strike that is set to take place in the middle of Britain’s general election campaign.
The British Medical Association, the main doctors’ union, has called a strike from June 27 to July 2, just before the election on July 4, the latest in its campaign seeking a 35 per cent pay rise.
Streeting on Sunday urged the junior doctors to cancel the strikes as he promised to be on the phone to them “on day one” if his Labour party gets into government.
The shadow health secretary said he was “beyond furious” the strikes were still continuing, blaming the intransigence of the Conservative government for the lack of any resolution.
“This government is incapable of resolving the dispute before polling day on July 4. I don’t think there’s anything to be achieved by having strikes in an election campaign,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“The only thing we will see is more untold misery on patients who see their appointments and procedures delayed, and also junior doctors out of pocket when I know the cost of living is massive.”
Streeting is under pressure to spell out how Labour would solve the dispute, having repeatedly refused to say whether there would be a more generous offer from a Labour government and — if so — how high it would be.
The need to settle negotiations over public sector pay is one of the areas expected to dominate the early months of a potential Labour government, if it wins power in the election.
A dossier compiled by chief of staff Sue Gray listed public pay disputes alongside bankrupt councils and the potential collapse of Thames Water as the most immediate problems the party would face in office if elected.
Doctors have already gone on strike 10 times so far in the past two years, undermining the Conservative government’s attempts to reduce NHS waiting lists. The looming walkouts are set to impact almost all routine care, as consultants are asked to step in for junior doctor colleagues.
After five weeks of talks late last year, the medical union rejected the government’s offer of a 3 per cent pay increase, on top of a roughly 9 per cent rise already offered. It said the proposal was not “credible” and did not address 15 years of inflation-linked pay erosion.
Streeting said in a separate interview with The Sun that a Labour government could not match the doctors’ demands: “The public finances are in a mess. I’m sorry that we will not be able to give junior doctors a 35 per cent pay increase. The money simply isn’t there,” he said. “What we are prepared to do is to negotiate.”
However, Streeting said he was “optimistic” that Labour could make a “breakthrough” in the pay talks. The Labour MP told Sky it was “fascinating” that a junior doctor last week — during a televised election debate — told Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer that he knew a 35 per cent uplift was not possible.
But he gave no clues about the details of a potential Labour offer. “I’m not going to get into the business of negotiating ahead of the general election,” he said. “I don’t think it’s helpful to try and negotiate in public through interviews.”
Matt Wrack, president of the Trades Union Congress, warned this month that Britain could be hit with another wave of strikes if public sector workers do not receive decent pay rises under a Labour government.
“Something has got to be done to address that in people’s pay packets,” he said. “I get that they’re going to be under financial constraints and so on, but something will need to be done about it. Otherwise, you may see people taking further industrial action.”
