Resident doctors in England have voted by an overwhelming margin for a new round of strikes, with full walkout dates immediately set for 25-30 July. The problems that wrack the NHS have not gone away, nor has our anger.
On a 55 percent turnout, 90 percent of resident doctors voted for industrial action – against the intransigence of Streeting and his cabal, who ruled out any further discussions for the next six months.
These figures reflect persistent militancy among resident doctors, despite a campaign of slander by the gutter press.
Mood on the ground
As the ballot results show, there is little faith in appealing to the ‘empathy’ of Streeting, nor Starmer. They don’t have any! In fact, Streeting in particular is loathed by many of my colleagues.
A pay rise of 28.9%.
The highest pay rise in the entire public sector this year.
A genuine commitment to work together on things like rotations, placements, progression.
These are NOT the conditions for strike action.
I urge the BMA to work with me. pic.twitter.com/siHQZyLqpJ
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) July 8, 2025
BMA strikes are unnecessary and unreasonable.
There isn’t a precedent in British trade union history for calling a strike after a 28.9% pay rise – let alone a five day strike.
The NHS is hanging by a thread they’re threatening to pull. pic.twitter.com/eGbbsa3ZN0
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) July 9, 2025
No amount of negotiating or relying on Labour’s fake sympathy for public sector workers got us our last pay rise. It was militancy – successive strikes – that paid.
The decision to declare strike dates so soon after the ballot result is another sign of militancy. There is no mood to wait about and negotiate – at least amongst the ranks.
Escalate and win!
However, if we are to win full pay restoration we should learn the lessons of the last strike wave in 2023-24. Although we made a dent in the 20 percent real-terms pay loss since 2008, we still have a way to go to achieve this core demand.
The government is hell-bent on austerity because capitalism dictates it. That means when negotiations stall, the only way forward is to escalate further, to flex our muscle and force their hand.
Conversely, multiple, limited rounds of strikes risk exhausting workers.
The pay struggle, meanwhile, is sector-wide. Unite NHS staff have won a strike ballot in Wales. Nurses remain underpaid, as do many other of our colleagues. They also suffer the same intense work conditions.
The union leadership should call for an inter-union strike movement with the RCN, Unite and other unions who organise NHS workers.
Cross-sector strike committees at a rank-and-file level would further galvanise the mood across the NHS. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with our colleagues; the same should apply to our picket lines.
It’s bigger than pay
Resident doctors remain committed to full pay restoration – not just to account for real-terms pay cuts for existing staff, but also to ensure there are enough doctors to give our patients high-quality care.
Our struggle is intrinsically linked with the NHS’ death by a thousand cuts. Ambulance queues, corridor care, astronomical waiting lists, and hospital closures are all symptoms of a service choked by capitalism.
The bosses and bankers, represented by the Labour Party, are determined to make the workers pay for their crisis.
Meanwhile, the recently published NHS ‘long-term plan’ waxes lyrical about ‘community prevention’ and ‘digital innovation’. But how can these even be achieved on the basis of austerity, a burnt out workforce, and under the diktats of an unaccountable and profit-hungry Health Secretary?
The money that the NHS so desperately needs won’t be found in the threadbare budgets of other public services, but in the billion-pound bank accounts of the private health sector and pharmaceutical parasites who turn patients’ pain into profits.
One struggle, one fight
The attacks on the NHS are attacks on all workers who rely on our service.
The union leadership therefore must broaden the struggle beyond resident doctors’ pay, to the NHS crisis as a whole. In the words of Malcolm X, “we’re not outnumbered, we’re out-organised!”
To win, the strike wave must therefore boldly demand: nationalise the banks, seize their wealth, spend it on the national health!
