Hearts & Minds: Striking doctors are wearing the public’s patience – and Wes Streeting knows it

The battle lines are drawn. It’s a matter of who will blink first, the UK government or the junior doctors. The British Medical Association maintains it had ‘no choice but to call strikes’ after West Streeting, the health secretary, failed to make a ‘credible offer’ to ‘restore pay’. The result is 26,000 resident doctors, as they are now called, voting to walk out, with just under 3,000 voting against. A strike appears certain, unless of course, either side backs down. 

This is a dispute that will be fought in the court of public opinion. Some are like this, where the adversaries are able to call on popular support. None more so than here where the NHS is at the core of their fight. The health service is something Britons hold impossibly dear. In their private polling, the main political parties ask people what they care about the most. Top, always, by a long distance, is the NHS. It unites all demographics regardless of wealth, race, place. The NHS is sacrosanct, which is why politicians know to tamper with at their peril. 

In general elections, the need for wholesale reform of the NHS rarely features, because to go there will backfire. It’s the reason why, historically, governments have usually caved in to pay demands from medical staff – the strongest lobbying group in the country is the nurses, followed by doctors. Their unassailability was highlighted more than ever by the outpouring of sympathy they received during Covid. 

But the pandemic has receded in the collective memory. The UK is in a different place; the public finances are under intense pressure, against a backdrop of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Central to that struggle is the ongoing requirement to cut NHS waiting lists and bolster healthcare. Arguably, this is not the time for public servants to be demanding higher wages. Not least since in their case, the junior doctors have already received a substantial increase. With that too, comes the knowledge that they have gone on strike 11 times since 2022, damaging services and forcing the cancellation of an estimated 1.5m appointments. 

A recent YouGov poll found 48% of the public oppose them going on strike, while 39% are supportive. This is a marked shift in opinion from last summer, when a majority, 52% said they supported them taking action. Hence Streeting’s firm resistance. His messaging will only get tougher should other polls find the same. 

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard