Prime Minister Keir Starmer has threatened to withdraw an offer of thousands of extra NHS training posts if resident doctors in England do not call off a six-day strike planned after Easter. The prime minister has given the British Medical Association (BMA) 48 hours to abandon its industrial action or the government will pull the current offer from the table.
Last week, the BMA's resident doctors' committee rejected an offer that would have given doctors a pay rise of up to 7.1% this year, without putting it to members for a vote. Writing in the Times, Starmer labelled the rejection “reckless” and said it “benefits no one”. He called for the BMA to allow its members to vote on the deal.
The deal included an above-inflation pay rise, reforms to pay progression, reimbursements for Royal College exam costs, and an extra 4,500 speciality training places over three years. Of these, 1,000 jobs would have opened for applications this month, but “will be gone if this deal isn’t put to a vote on Thursday”, the prime minister said.
The BMA, which plans to strike from 7 to 13 April, is demanding “full pay restoration” to 2008 levels, equivalent to a 26% pay rise. Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA's UK resident doctors committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government had “shifted the goalposts” at the last minute and that threats were not a credible way to end the dispute. He said he was willing to negotiate but not through newspaper threats.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting backed the prime minister, saying on X: “The BMA seems surprised that if they reject the deal on offer and go on strike their members don’t get what the government is offering. We have time before Easter weekend to resolve this dispute. A deal on jobs and pay is on the table.”
