Connect with us

Published

on

Junior doctors and consultants in England will take joint strike action for the first time over four days across September and October, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.

The BMA said consultants will strike on 19 and 20 September with Christmas Day levels of cover, while junior doctors will also walk out on 20 September with similar levels of cover, followed by further strikes on 21 and 22 September.

Both consultants and junior doctors will strike again on 2, 3, and 4 October, again with Christmas Day levels of cover, in what the union said was the first joint strike between consultants and junior doctors in NHS history.

The strike days also coincide with Rishi Sunak‘s first Tory party conference as leader and prime minister.

BMA junior doctor committee co-chairs Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “Today, junior doctors across England are sending a single message, loud and clear to the government: we are not going anywhere.

“We are prepared to continue with our industrial action, but we don’t have to – the prime minister has the power to halt any further action by making us a credible offer that we can put to our members.

“Refusing to negotiate with us and with our consultant colleagues is not the way ahead.”

More on Nhs

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the joint strike was “extremely disappointing” – as he hit out at the BMA’s “relentless and co-ordinated strike action”.

“Nearly 900,000 appointments have been cancelled due to strike action,” he tweeted.

“I fear the BMA’s hard-line stance and threat of indefinite action means this number will only keep rising.”

Mr Barclay said doctors who started their hospital training this year will receive a 10.3% pay increase, with the average junior doctor in line for a 8.8% rise.

Consultants have been offered a 6% rise – a figure the BMA described as “insulting”, claiming consultants have experienced a “35% pay erosion” over the last 14 years.

“My door is always open to discuss how we can work together with NHS staff to improve their working lives – but this pay award is final, so I urge the BMA to call an end to this callous and calculated disruption,” Mr Barclay tweeted.

Read more:
NHS handed £250m to tackle waiting times
Scotland and Wales patients could be treated in England

The BMA said it was continuing action in the autumn against the “backdrop of a hugely understaffed and under-resourced health service”.

It said the ballot for industrial action for junior doctors had been renewed for a further six months, with 98.4% voting in favour on a 71% turnout.

“Junior doctors and consultants have seen their pay drop in real terms by over a third in the past 15 years,” the BMA said.

It claimed that the government was refusing to enter talks with either junior doctors or consultants.

The latest strike action comes after junior doctors staged 19 days of walkouts across March this year.

Last week striking consultants apologised to patients who suffered delayed or cancelled appointments due to industrial action but said the government was to blame.

The senior doctors walked out for 48 hours from 7am on 24 August.

Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “The failure of the prime minister and his health secretary to sit down and talk to doctors has now led to the most severe strike action yet.

“The risk to patients is intolerable and the blame for cancelled appointments, delayed operations and rising waiting lists lies firmly at the door of 10 Downing Street.”

Continue Reading

UK

Jaguar Land Rover to ‘pause’ US shipments over Donald Trump tariffs

Published

on

By

Jaguar Land Rover to 'pause' US shipments over Donald Trump tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.

JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.

Follow live updates: Trump’s baseline 10% tariff kicks in

In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.

“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”

The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.

More on Donald Trump

JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.

“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.

Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.

All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.

Read more: A red wall on Wall Street – but Trump seems to believe it will work out

Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.

Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.

Continue Reading

UK

Two people die after caravan fire at holiday park in Lincolnshire

Published

on

By

Two people die after caravan fire at holiday park in Lincolnshire

Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.

In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.

Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.

They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.

The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.

Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.

“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.

Two fire crews remain at the scene.

Continue Reading

UK

Boy dies after ‘getting into difficulty’ in lake in southeast London

Published

on

By

Boy dies after 'getting into difficulty' in lake in southeast London

A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.

Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.

The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.

“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.

The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.

The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.

In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.

More from UK

google street view inside Beckenham Place park, Lewisham where a 16 y/o boy is missing after getting into difficulty in a lake
Image:
Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon

Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.

The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.

It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.

“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”

Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.

Continue Reading

Trending