0:00
Resident doctors, as we must now call
0:02
them, junior being a term good enough
0:04
for barristers, but far too demeaning
0:05
and not quite American enough for these
0:07
lifesavers, have voted to go on strike
0:09
for 5 days this month. This will cause
0:11
as many as 200,000 appointments to be
0:14
cancelled, meaning cancer diagnoses
0:16
delayed, longer waiting lists, and agony
0:18
prolonged for thousands of patients. Be
0:20
in no doubt that lives will be lost as a
0:23
direct or indirect result of this
0:24
industrial action from the British
0:26
Medical Association. But that is the
0:27
logic of strikes. They are only as
0:29
effective as the harm they cause. And in
0:31
this case, it is the sick and the dying
0:33
who are being held to ransom. And what
0:35
is their justification? The doctors
0:37
claim that their pay has been cut since
0:39
2008 and are demanding a further 29%
0:42
increase on top of the 22% they received
0:44
last year as restoration. That is an
0:46
absurd figure for a number of reasons.
0:48
First, it is unaffordable. Britain is
0:50
broke. Yet, even within current fiscal
0:52
constraints, resident doctors are well-
0:54
paid. They can expect to start on a
0:56
salary of around £38,800
0:58
and command an average of around £54,000
1:01
plus huge pension contributions and
1:03
rapid pay progression. And on top of
1:05
this, they've just had the most generous
1:06
pay rises in the entire public sector.
1:08
If you're watching this and you work for
1:10
a company, you'll understand that pay
1:11
rises in the private sector are awarded
1:13
based on performance, demand, and
1:15
resources within the company. There is
1:17
no centrally determined level of pay to
1:20
which any worker is entitled, unless of
1:22
course you're a socialist. as the deputy
1:24
chair of the BMA proudly proclaims
1:26
herself to be. And for his part, the new
1:28
chair of the BMA has said the politician
1:30
he most admires is the Corbinite Dawn
1:33
Butler. But even if you accept the pay
1:35
restoration argument, the BMA's numbers
1:37
just do not add up. They have used the
1:39
RPI measure of inflation rather than the
1:41
much more common CPI. Adjusting for CPI,
1:44
their pay has indeed fallen since 2008,
1:46
but only by 4.7%, not the 29% they
1:49
claim. They've chosen 2008 as their
1:52
benchmark because being the year of the
1:54
global financial crash, it was the end
1:56
of the generous public spending of the
1:57
Blair Brown era. If you measure from
2:00
2015 instead, resident doctors have had
2:02
a 7.9% real terms pay rise. The BMA has
2:06
chosen an arbitrary year and a distorted
2:08
index to come up with the highest
2:10
possible figure with which to blackmail
2:11
the government. But this should not come
2:13
as any surprise to people who see them
2:15
for what they really are. A militant
2:17
trade union that has centered the
2:19
government's weakness. Raja Kipling
2:21
wrote, "It is always a temptation for a
2:23
rich and lazy nation to puff and look
2:25
important and to say, though we know we
2:27
should defeat you, we have not the time
2:29
to meet you. We will therefore pay you
2:31
cash to go away." But the doctors have
2:33
proved that there is no amount of money
2:34
that can appease them. And though
2:36
Britain may be lazy, it is no longer
2:38
rich. Health Secretary Wes Streeting is
2:41
absolutely right to say that the public
2:42
will not forgive strike action. And
2:44
those doctors who did not vote for the
2:46
strike, that is the majority of the
2:47
BMA's members, those are the patriotic
2:49
doctors who put their patients first,
2:51
should not forgive their union either.
