Industrial action: New health secretary opens talks with junior doctors

Labour’s new health secretary, Wes Streeting, has announced immediate talks with junior doctors in England in a bid to bring to an end their long running pay dispute. Streeting, who served as shadow health secretary since November 2021, was appointed to Keir Starmer’s Cabinet on 5 July after Labour’s general election victory.

In a statement on 5 July Streeting signalled that talks with junior doctors would be a priority.1 He said, “I have just spoken over the phone with the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, and I can announce that talks to end their industrial action will begin next week. We promised during the campaign that we would begin negotiations as a matter of urgency, and that is what we are doing.”

Streeting also …