FURIOUS row erupts as Keir Starmer imposes 48-hour deadline on 'RECKLESS' striking doctors

Описание: Keir Starmer claimed "patients will pay the price" if resident doctors go ahead with "reckless" strikes, as a furious row erupted with union bosses.

Treasury Minister James Murray said the British Medical Association (BMA) should call off strikes due to begin immediately after Easter, and Sir Keir gave resident doctors 48 hours to reconsider an offer which includes pay rises and training places.

Mr Murray said: “If the resident doctors ignore what the Prime Minister has said and they go ahead with the strike it will hurt them, it will hurt the NHS and it will hurt patients.

They have a decent offer on the table, they have a very good offer on the table, which has been negotiated over many months with the Health Secretary.”

He insisted it was “reckless” for the doctors' union to reject the deal, or refuse to put it to members. Mr Murray said: “They will not get the better deal that is on the table. They will get a less good deal by not accepting the deal which is on the table.”

The Minister continued: “These were extra training places which we wanted to introduce as part of the deal. If the resident doctors go on strike then our resources in April have to be focused on keeping the NHS running.

I would much rather we were spending that resource on getting more training places, and I would hope the resident doctors would think that would be a better way to spend that money as well.”

But the chairman of the BMA resident doctors’ committee said the Government had “shifted the goal posts” of its pay offer at the “very last minute”.

Dr Jack Fletcher said: “In the very last minute, the Government has shifted the goal posts of the pay offer that they were discussing, that we were discussing collectively a few months ago. I am very, very happy and willing to sit down and talk constructively once again. We’ve made clear to the Government what it would take to essentially get back to where we were.”

Dr Fletcher added: “I think making threats about withholding jobs from doctors and essentially stopping doctors from caring for patients, I don’t think is a realistic way or a credible way of ending this dispute.

“It will end in a negotiating room – I’m very happy to sit down with the Government at any point to try and negotiate a settlement, but I don’t think that’s done by writing in newspapers and issuing threats unilaterally.”

Read Daily Express: https://www.express.co.uk
Like Daily Express on Facebook:   / dailyexpress  
Follow Daily Express on X: https://x.com/Daily_Express
Follow Daily Express on Instagram:   / dailyexpress  

#DailyExpress #News #keirstarmer #labour #doctorstrike #juniordoctorprotest #nhs #strike #union #bma