Junior doctors in England begin five-day strike, as PM warned his promise on waiting lists in doubt
Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut NHS waiting times will be impossible to meet if strikes are still disrupting care beyond the summer, health service chiefs have privately warned ministers.
The prime minister promised in January that “NHS waiting lists will fall” when he outlined five pledges, reflecting “the people’s priorities”, by which voters should judge his performance, he said.
Today marks the start of the longest single walkout by doctors in the NHS’s history, but this is still not a record that needs to go into the history books.
We can call this strike off today if the UK Government will simply follow the example of the government in Scotland and drop their nonsensical precondition of not talking whilst strikes are announced and produce an offer which is credible to the doctors they are speaking with.
The government’s refusal to talk with junior doctors in England who have strikes planned is out of keeping with all norms of industrial action.
Doctors have a right to expect that as in Scotland, and as in many other recent industrial disputes, talks will continue right up to the last minute to try and reach a deal without the need to strike.
