Theresa May tells junior doctors the Government is not backing down as BMA plans strikes

September 2, 2016

Theresa May accused striking junior doctors of ‘playing politics’ with lives
Prime Minister told them they’ve never had it so good as she intervened
She made it clear the Government will not back down against the walkouts
Also brushed aside calls from junior doctors for Jeremy Hunt to be sacked

Jason Groves, Deputy Political Editor for the Daily Mail

Published:
18:28 EST, 1 September 2016

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Updated:
20:36 EST, 1 September 2016

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Theresa May yesterday accused striking junior doctors of ‘playing politics’ with patients’ lives, and told them they’ve never had it so good.

In a sign of intent, the Prime Minister intervened to make it clear the Government will not back down against the BMA’s militant leaders on the ‘crucial’ new contract for junior doctors.

Mrs May also brushed aside calls from junior doctors and Labour for Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to be sacked.

Theresa May (pictured on a visit to the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull with Chancellor Philip Hammond today) accused junior doctors of ‘playing politics’ instead of ‘putting patients first’ today after the British Medical Association threatened the worst strikes in NHS history

The move came as Labour further politicised the dispute by indicating it will back the strike, with frontbenchers joining picket lines.

Downing Street sources said Mr Hunt had the Prime Minister’s full backing in imposing the new contract, which is seen as vital in making a reality of the Tories’ manifesto pledge to create a seven-day NHS.

Only one in three doctors support strike: Leak reveals just…

Senior doctors urge their junior colleagues to call off…

The BMA approved further industrial action at a meeting this afternoon as the bitter row between leading doctors and the Government continues. Pictured: Protesters earlier this year

LEFT-WINGER SPOILING FOR A FIGHT WITH THE TORIES

Junior doctor Ellen McCourt, deputy chair of BMA, is leading the latest round of strikes

The junior doctor leading the latest round of strikes fumed that she had been ‘betrayed’ when plans for the walkouts were revealed.

Left-winger Ellen McCourt ranted that the leak to the Daily Mail had put the plans for action at risk.

The Mail revealed earlier this week that junior doctors were planning to escalate their strikes – and that their own risk assessment warned the walkouts could pose a ‘serious’ health danger for some patients. Dr McCourt, 32, unleashed her anger on Facebook, writing: ‘Someone continues to betray our trust, put their own agenda first and risk our collective action.’

She insists her work with the British Medical Association is apolitical but has described the Government’s planned imposition of the new contracts as ‘extremely disappointing’ and warned it was ‘storing up problems for the future’.

She has warned she will not back down, saying that ‘junior doctors have found their voice’ and: ‘We’ve not finished yet.’ Earlier this year she reacted angrily to criticism of junior doctors, saying : ‘We are all angry. We have been for a long time. I have looked Jeremy Hunt in the eye and explained our frustrations, our anger, our rejection.’

Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, Dr McCourt graduated from the University of St Andrews in 2006 and has been a junior doctor for seven years. Now in emergency medicine in Hull, she works some weekends, including 13-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dr McCourt, whose mother Kathleen was awarded a CBE for services to nursing in 2012, describes herself as ‘Left-leaning’. She says that after experiencing long hours and under-staffing three years ago she decided to ‘stop just being angry and moaning about everything and try to change things’.

David Cameron left Mr Hunt to lead the charge against striking doctors, but Mrs May moved quickly to make it clear she will not yield to the militants running the BMA.

During a visit to the Jaguar Land Rover assembly plant in Solihull, she said: ‘Jeremy has been an excellent Health Secretary, he is an excellent Health Secretary and this deal is about a deal that is safe for patients and I think it’s crucial.

‘If you look at what we’re doing as a Government with the NHS – we’ve got record levels of funding into the NHS, we’ve got more doctors now in the NHS than we’ve seen in its history and this is a deal that is safe for patients.

‘The Government is putting patients first – the BMA should be putting patients first, not playing politics.’

The BMA retaliated last night by announcing a fresh wave of strikes, including another walkout on October 5 – the day Mrs May makes her first keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference as PM.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Left-wing leadership backed the strike plans, despite the massive disruption they will cause to patients.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he and other Labour frontbenchers would join doctors on the picket line this month.

Speaking at a rally in Ealing, west London, he added: ‘We will be supporting them and we are supporting them, because we believe they have a just cause.’

Labour leadership contender Owen Smith called for Mr Hunt to be sacked for losing the confidence of junior doctors. He described Mr Hunt as ‘the worst Health Secretary in history’, adding: ‘It is simply astounding that on the day Theresa May walked into No 10 one of the first decisions she made was to keep Jeremy Hunt in post.’

Shadow Health Secretary Diane Abbott accused ministers of treating striking doctors like ‘the enemy within’. She added: ‘The Tories talk about a seven-day NHS, but they are causing five-day strikes.’

Earlier Mr Hunt likened himself to the late Labour Cabinet minister Nye Bevan, seen as the architect of the NHS, who also suffered bitter disputes with the BMA. ‘Health secretaries are never very popular,’ he said. Miss Abbott branded the comparison ‘ridiculous’.

Inside the Department of Health there was fury about the decision by the BMA to launch the most damaging strikes in the history of the NHS over a contract it had supported just months ago.

Health sources pointed out that patients’ groups were opposed to the strike – and warned that junior doctors, long seen as some of the angels of the public sector, risked tarnishing their image with the public for ever.

The decision to impose the new contract was taken only after junior doctors rejected a deal agreed by Mr Hunt and the BMA. The sources said it was difficult to negotiate with the BMA if it could not deliver its members. They added there was no possibility that Mr Hunt would abandon plans to impose the contract.

‘IT’S ABOUT MONEY NOT SAFETY’

Poll

This is what a whistleblower told the Mail was said at the meeting as the BMA voted to strike.

Consultant (in favour): Union should ‘pick up where the miners left off’, it was a chance for the BMA to ‘break’ Theresa May.

Consultant (against): ‘Emergency care will be affected including neonatal intensive care. People will die. This will be blamed on us. We cannot argue it’s about safety. It’s about money and always has been.’

GP (against): The strike would ‘cost lives’ and be ‘suicidal’ for the BMA. Mrs May ‘will show her courage’ and ‘crush’ the union.

GP (against): Called for any doctors who took part in total strikes to be hauled before the General Medical Council. Said withdrawing care was ‘equivalent to imposing harm on patients’ and that the dispute was ‘all about money’ contrary to junior doctors’ claims that the new contract is a threat to patient safety.