Health Minister Maria Caulfield has blasted Labour’s suggestion it would meet the “eye-watering pay demands” of militant union leaders. She said this would make inflation spiral and hold back the British economy.
Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting said Labour would offer doctors “the pay they deserve”, in a strong hint that the party would look to find the money to meet the British Medical Association’s (BMA) requests.
In response, Ms Caulfield said: “Wes Streeting’s suggestion that Labour would meet the eye-watering pay demands of militant union leaders shows that they will always take the easy way out.
“Accepting demands for an up to 49 percent pay rise would make inflation spiral, make ordinary hardworking people worse off, and hold back our economy making it harder to fund our public services like the NHS.
“Only the Conservatives will take the long-term decisions for a brighter future which will get inflation under control, get the economy growing and ensure we can provide high-quality public services for the future.”
The BMA Junior Doctors Committee is currently demanding a 35 percent pay rise this year, or 49 percent over this year and next.
The government has maintained that it will not enter into further pay negotiations with doctors’ unions. Consultants have said they will not call any more strikes until November to allow time for negotiations.
Last week, consultants and junior doctors in England staged a three-day joint strike, providing emergency cover only. Speaking alongside Streeting at a fringe event at the Labour conference, Professor Philip Banfield, head of the BMA’s council, said the government would need to make offers to all branches of the union to resolve the strikes, and should not consider “picking off” consultants.
Mr Streeting said: “I don’t see a way to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS and in social care which doesn’t involve giving people the respect, the conditions and the pay they deserve.
“One of the reasons we didn’t have any national strikes in the NHS under the last Labour government is because we treated staff with respect. We worked with staff in partnership.”
