Resident doctors in England started a six-day walkout on Tuesday after rejecting an offer the government said would not get better, with the British Medical Association saying it failed to reverse years of pay erosion and staffing pressures. Speaking on Times Radio on Tuesday, Streeting said resident doctors had secured the largest pay uplift of any public sector group under the Labour government, but had rejected the offer without putting forward a counter proposal. The BMA represents about 55,000 of the resident doctors - formerly known as junior doctors - who make up nearly half of the medical workforce. The union says the government's offer on pay and workforce does not go far enough to address long-standing concerns, including historical below-inflation pay increases. But without a credible offer on the table, doctors are left with no alternative," the BMA said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Source: The Telegraph April 07, 2026 09:13 UTC