The Prime Minister has given resident doctors 48 hours to abandon strikes or risk losing 1,000 additional training posts.
Writing in The Times, Sir Keir Starmer called the British Medical Association’s (BMA) decision to stage a six-day strike later this month ‘reckless’ and said ‘walking away from this deal is the wrong decision’.
He also said that choosing to strike without offering resident doctors the opportunity to vote made it ‘even worse’.
The Prime Minister said that the the government’s offer would have delivered another above-inflation pay rise this year and unlocked up to 4,500 additional speciality training places over the next three years.
He added that a thousand of these places would have opened for applications this month, but will be gone if this deal is not put to a vote on Thursday.
Addressing the BMA’s Resident Doctor Committee (RDC) directly Sir Keir urged it to ‘reconsider’ and added: ‘It is not too late to change course, to return to a constructive approach, and to do the most reasonable thing of all: give members a say and put this deal to a vote.
‘Failing to do so will mean resident doctors are left with less, the NHS is weakened, and patients pay the price.’
The BMA’s RDC announced last week that it had rejected the government’s latest offer on jobs and pay and its members will down tools from 7 to 13 April.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said that the deal on the table would have seen average basic pay rise by 4.9% in 2026/27, and resident doctors would have been on average 35.2% better off than four years ago.
Sir Keir told resident doctors that there were till 48 hours left to ‘choose a better path’ and added: ‘And to resident doctors themselves, I say this: make your voice heard. This deal improves your pay, your progression and your future. Do not let others decide that for you.
‘Our door remains open. Our shared objectives are unchanged. And our commitment to improving the NHS and the lives of working people continues to guide us.
‘There are still 48 hours left to choose a better path. For patients, the NHS, and our doctors — I urge you to take it.’
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA resident doctor committee, said the government had made ‘very late’ changes to the pay offer, reducing the pay investment and stretching it over a longer period in a way that had not been previously talked about.
He added: ‘Ministers effectively moved the goalposts on the deal at the last minute.
‘Creating posts and improving patient care should not be dependent on calling off a strike.
‘But these negotiations are not about arbitrary cut-offs as the Prime Minister seems to think. Any ‘deadline’ disappears the moment there is a credible and sustainable offer on the table.
‘Our focus remains on getting a good deal for both doctors and for patients, and we are seeking to talk once again with the government later today [Tuesday] with every intention of achieving a meaningful outcome that could see the strikes called off and a pay deal we can support.’
