Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of showing “money would be no object” to him appeasing militant unions after calling on ministers to do more to satisfy striking junior doctors in their demand for a 35 percent pay rise.
The backlash comes after the Labour leader praised union barons for making a “good case” for a wage hike and declared ministers were wrong to insist doctors stopped striking before further pay negotiations could take place.
Speaking on LBC, Sir Keir said “there is more than money at stake here” in the ongoing industrial action, which amounts to the longest strike in NHS history.
He added in a message to ministers: “Get in the door, get in the room, get this deal over the line and get the NHS back working because millions of people are suffering as a result of this industrial action…Don’t break junior doctors, talk to them. Get in the room sort it out.”
In response, senior Conservatives told the Express that Sir Keir had exposed his weakness in the face of the trade unions like the British Medical Association.
Tory MP Paul Bristow, member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said: “Sitting down with BMA bosses as they are ordering their members out would signal that strike action while demanding a 35 percent pay increase works.
“Starmer shows again he would be in hock to militant unions.”
David Campbell Bannerman, chair of the Conservative Democratic Organisation said that the Labour leader is “once again found on bended knee”.
The former Tory MEP said: “This time, Sir Keir is caving into strike action that puts lives at risk. He suggests money is no object and that unions should be allowed to triumph no matter what. What a scary prospect if he gets to do this in Number 10.”
The furore comes as ministers deplored the ongoing strikes, which are the longest bout of industrial action in the NHS’s history.
Rishi Sunak said striking doctors were “disrupting people’s lives”, adding: “They are causing an enormous amount of concern to people.”
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins made clear that talks with junior doctors would resume “within 20 minutes” if they called off strike action.
BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi have defended the action.
They said: “This strike marks another unhappy record for the NHS – the longest single walkout in its history.
“But as we have said all along, there is no need for any records to fall: we can call off this strike now if we get an offer from Government that we can put to members.
“Doctors want 2024 to be the start of a renewed workforce which can finally provide high quality care for patients again – it is for the Government to put forward a credible offer and facilitate that journey.”
