Kemi Badenoch Offers to Work with Labour on "Militant" Doctors' Strike

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has proposed working with the Labour government to tackle the "militant" doctors' strike, but only if they reverse a key election pledge. She warned that "people are going to die" as a result of the five-day strike over a 29 per cent pay rise demand by resident doctors. Badenoch wants the government to restore the minimum service guarantee during strikes and to ban doctors from striking in the same category as the police and military.

Key Takeaways:

Kemi Badenoch has offered to work with the Labour government on the doctors' strike, but only if they reverse a key election pledge.
The strike, which entered its fifth day, is over a 29 per cent pay rise demand by resident doctors.
Badenoch wants the government to restore the minimum service guarantee during strikes, which was scrapped by the previous Labour government.
She also wants to ban doctors from striking in the same category as the police and military.
Trade unions have pushed back against the proposal, warning that it would escalate tensions and "poison industrial relations".
The Labour government has been accused of delaying the workers' rights legislation in the House of Lords, with over 600 amendments proposed.
The bill is at its third and final reading, but looks set to be amended and sent back to the Commons for a rethink.

Statistics:

29 per cent: The pay rise demand by resident doctors.
5 days: The duration of the doctors' strike.
11: The number of strikes by doctors since 2023.
28 per cent: The pay rise received by doctors last year.
20 per cent: The amount of value lost in doctors' salaries since the previous pay deal.
600: The number of amendments to the workers' rights legislation proposed in the House of Lords.

Sources:

"Kemi Badenoch offers to work with Labour to tackle 'militant' doctors' strike" by David Maddox, The Telegraph.
"Doctors on strike over 29% pay rise demand" by The Guardian.