Politics LIVE: Labour crisis as junior doctors begin five-day strike | Politics | News
The Tories have lashed out at Wes Streeting’s “spinless surrender to union demands” last year, which saw junior doctors given a 22% pay rise without linking it to much-needed health reforms.
Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: โWhile the NHS battles record pressures, another wave of doctor strikes is dragging hospitals into chaos. These walkouts leave wards understaffed, operations cancelled and patients dangerously exposed โ with minimum service levels now hanging by a thread.
ย โLabourโs spineless surrender to union demands last year opened the door to this. They handed out inflation-busting pay rises without reform, and now the BMA are back for more. They are disrupting care, ignoring patients and gambling with lives. This is a betrayal of the NHS and those who rely on it.
โThe public deserves hospitals where the doctors are on the frontline rather than the picket line. But every day Labour refuses to stand up to union overreach, Britain moves closer to a health service run on the unionsโ terms rather than the patientsโ.โ
