The Commons: Can The Government afford NHS Strikes?

National health service

In early January 2024, the longest strike in National Health Service history began. Junior doctors (now called resident doctors) went on strike over pay disputes for six days. Public perception of the doctors remained high, COVID fresh in many people’s minds and an apathy with a Conservative government meant people still had sympathy for those workers on the front line. Since people all over the UK had come out during the lockdown banging pots and pans to show their appreciation for the NHS, a new sense of national pride had taken hold of the nation for the National Health Service. However, with resident doctors launching a five-day strike from July 25 to 30, public sentiment appears to have reached a new low.

Apathy towards doctors strikes has risen by 5 points, reaching 49% according to YouGov polling. With 64% of the public also believing the NHS is broken, the government handling of the strikes is a significant political test, particularly for a party traditionally aligned with trade unions. Their popularity with the trade unions appears to be dwindling. Just last week, Unite, Labour’s largest donor, suspended Angela Rayner. General Secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham, said: “Where is the backing of workers in Britain? I’m not here to make Labour look good, I’m here to protect workers.” Whilst it is the striking bin workers in Birmingham that has pressured Rayner into this position, if the government continues to take a stern approach to striking workers, the party’s claim to represent working people may be further undermined.

The government has decided to take a hard line over the doctor’s strike. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, appeared on BBC News speaking in a tone that seemed almost unrecognisable from traditional Labour values on the NHS and workers' rights. Streeting said in an interview with BBC Breakfast, “Don’t go on strike. Work with the government because we want to deliver the change that the NHS is crying out for.

“The prize that is there for all of us to grab of being the generation that rebuild our NHS is enormous.

“Striking is not in anyone’s interest.” He added that the rebuilding of the NHS was under threat by the potential of the resident doctor’s strike and could slow Labour’s goals of health service improvement.

The government have insisted that they are unable to provide the 5.4% pay rise that the British Medical Association (BMA) are asking for. The BMA are the union that represent the doctors and they remain in discussions with the government over the strike. They have previously said that they are looking for “creative solutions” and that “nothing is off the table.” With the Government’s insistence on not increasing pay, they have said that they are looking at other facets which can be improved such as working conditions.

Streeting said: “While we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise, we are working on areas where we can improve working lives for resident doctors.” Streeting has said that this increase has come over the last 3 years and that they have received the highest pay rise of all public sector workers. BMA members voted in September to accept a pay packet increase worth 22.3% over two years which brought previous strikes under the Conservative government to an end.

Starmer’s government ran on a ticket that emphasised the importance of the NHS and stated that they didn’t just want to fix the health service but prepare it for years to come. In Labour’s manifesto in 2024 on the NHS it stated:

 “This is a situation Labour is familiar with: we have saved the NHS before, and the next Labour Government will do so again. With Labour, it will always be publicly owned and publicly funded. But our ambition goes beyond returning the NHS to what it was. Labour’s mission is to build an NHS fit for the future. Investment alone won’t be enough to tackle the problems facing the NHS; it must go hand in hand with fundamental reform.”

For Labour to be able to save the NHS they first must get doctors on board. It’s not just resident doctors looking to strike but senior doctors as well. Hospital consultants are considering strike action in the Autumn after a 4% pay rise. The BMA called this “an insult to senior doctors.”

Shadow health secretary Edward Agar said: “It’s shocking that we don’t even know how many doctors will walk out, and hospitals are being left in the dark.

“That kind of chaos puts patients and lives at risk. These strikes are irresponsible, unnecessary and wrong.”

Wes Streeting also told the Commons that first-year doctors earn an average of £43,275 (approximately $56,000), and according to analysis by The Telegraph, some resident doctors can earn more than £100,000 a year (around $129,000).

Senior Doctors speaking to The Telegraph also said that the strike action was “disproportionate” and that there were worries regarding public perception. Accusations of entitlement have been coming from right of center critics and press. However, the Labour party market themselves as the party of the workers. If they continue to unashamedly bash strike action, there is a danger that this moniker becomes empty.

The BMA has an “industrial action reserve” worth £1 million according to documents seen by Mail Online. According to the documents “Contingency plans are in place to fund any long-term industrial action from reserves.” The BMA are able to draw on further reserves of up £50 million. This money is expected to fund lost pay and any other costs of industrial action.