Rishi Sunak condemns junior doctors for taking ‘damaging strike action’ over Christmas as medics are set for the longest walkout in NHS history
Junior doctors are wrong to launch a “devastating strike” over pay during the busy Christmas period, Rishi Sunak said yesterday.
The Prime Minister criticized plans for the longest strike in NHS history as union leaders sought to defend their demands, saying “all” they were seeking was a 26 per cent rise.
Doctors will strike again for three days this month and another six in early January.
It comes after British Medical Association bosses rejected a pay proposal in their long-running dispute with the government.
The Prime Minister (pictured on Wednesday) opposed plans for the longest strike in NHS history as union leaders tried to defend their demands
British Medical Association bosses have rejected a pay offer in their long-running dispute with the government. Pictured: Junior doctors go on strike in September.
Doctors will go on strike again for three days this month and for another six in early January. Pictured: Junior doctors go on strike in September.
In response to Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Sunak put pressure on striking doctors, stressing that “every other part of the public sector” that went on strike had now resolved their disputes with the government.
Nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics have called off strikes following pay agreements, while consultants will vote on the proposal accepted by their bosses.
Mr Sunak added: “Junior doctors are taking action despite an independent body recommending an average pay rise of 9 per cent, the highest in the entire public sector.
“The government went beyond that in their conversations with them and they still decided to go on a disruptive strike. This is not true.’
But Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, told LBC radio: “The (extra) 3 per cent offer was completely insufficient to actually begin to address the 26 per cent pay cut doctors have faced over the last 15 years. years.
“All we want is to restore that 26 percent so we get back to a 0 percent change from 2008.”