Resident Doctors: Industrial Action

Alex McIntyre Excerpts

Wednesday 10th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for his support, as well as for the constructive challenge. He is absolutely right to describe the challenge that we inherited, and we are seeking to deal with it. We have taken a number of steps along the way. For example, we promised to recruit an additional 1,000 GPs to the frontline in our first year. We expanded the additional roles reimbursement scheme in order to do that, and we were actually able to recruit an extra 2,500. The international medical graduate dimension of the deal means that the extra speciality training places go even further.

Although I would never pretend that the steps we have taken in our first 18 months in office have solved everything all at once—there is no shortage of things to solve—I say to those BMA members considering how to cast their vote that we have delivered a 28.9% pay rise, have taken action on international medical graduates through urgent legislation, and have expanded speciality training places. This is real progress. It is meaningful change in people’s pockets and to their lives, working conditions, career progression and prospects. 

The BMA should please not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We have a lot of fires to put out on a lot of fronts as a Government, and that does take time. We are committed—and I am personally committed—to working constructively with the BMA on things like workforce planning to address those issues, if it is willing to work with us. That is all I ask. It is all I ask from any part of the NHS workforce. It should work with us constructively, understand our constraints, work through the challenges with us, and we will all get to a better place and create a rising tide in the NHS that lifts all ships.

[Alex McIntyre (Gloucester) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. My residents in Gloucester are rightly worried about strike action in the run-up to Christmas, and the impact that it will have on waiting lists in my patch in Gloucester. I am not surprised that there is no one here from the Reform party to hear about the challenges that our NHS is facing, and I am really shocked that there is nobody from the Green party, but there we go. Can the Secretary of State confirm that there will be resident doctors sitting at home in Gloucester tonight who will want to vote for this deal, who will not want to go on strike next week, and who want to get the NHS back on its feet? The BMA should do the right thing, and call off the strikes next week. It should listen to its members, and let us together get on with the work of repairing our NHS and the damage the Conservative party did.

[Wes Streeting]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. I was about to say that it is always a disappointment when Reform and Green Members do not appear in the Chamber, but I would not want to be accused of misleading the House. I am sure they had a better offer, and there is a Christmas party up the road.

In all seriousness, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. The tragedy of the past couple of rounds of industrial action is that each round costs about a quarter of a billion pounds. Each round, despite the best efforts of NHS leaders and frontline staff, does cause disruption, and we all lose when that happens. One of the things that is really hard for staff is that they are also confronted in a very real way with the impact of the state of the NHS on their patients. They are not in it for themselves, but because they believe in public service and want to improve the health of our nation. We are so much better able to achieve our shared goals if we work together, and we can grasp that opportunity if doctors vote for this deal, we draw a line under this dispute, and we try to reset the relationship between me and this Government on one hand, and the BMA’s leadership on the other.