The BMA's greed will bring the NHS to its knees
Now the boot is on the other foot. Despite agreeing to a significant pay rise for what are now called resident doctors, they are threatening to go on strike in pursuit of a 29 per cent claim.
Arguably, there is not enough money in the system even for what is on the table, let alone the demand that salaries are returned in real terms to where they were before the financial crash of 2008.
This would be ruinous for an already broken NHS, especially if it triggers copy-cat demands from unions across the health service. But having ruled out a pay rise, Mr Streeting says he will talk to the BMA to find a solution to the dispute.
But to what end? Mr Streeting has insisted the Government can't improve its offer of a 5.4 per cent increase this year which follows a 22 per cent rise.
Moreover, the BMA claims a mandate for a series of strikes in pursuit of 29 per cent. They cannot settle for 5.4 per cent; yet if Mr Streeting caves in and agrees to more then his credibility will be shot to pieces, along with the finances of the NHS.
He faces precisely the same quandary that confronted his Tory predecessors: how to square the greater needs of the NHS with the militancy of the BMA. He appears perplexed that, after proposing a 10-year plan for the service, those working within it are more interested in feathering their own nests than rescuing the NHS from imminent collapse.
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