Labour has shown its true colours after just one month in power, Priti Patel warns

Dame Priti Patel has blasted Labour for showing "their true colours" just a month after coming to power as it's feared union paymasters will extract even more public cash from Sir Keir Starmer.

As the Daily Express has revealed tonight, junior doctors are plotting to inflict yet another round of painful strikes on NHS patients despite Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting caving in to a massive 22.3 percent pay increase barely a week ago.

In a video leaked to this newspaper, a British Medical Association (BMA) employee told a group of junior doctors of plans to "'bank' these initial gains, build and then go again in April 2025".

The BMA call for action comes despite admitting some members are getting "fatigue" from carrying out the previous "11 rounds of strikes".

Dame Pritil Patel said the footage shows emboldened "union baron paymasters" were ready to cash in on Labour. She told Express.co.uk: "It's taken just a month for Labour to show their true colours.

"Labour is, and has always been, a party run by their union baron paymasters.

"Not content with extracting an inflation busting pay deal from this dreadful socialist government the unions will now inflict more pain, and longer waiting lists, on the British public to demand more.

"This shows why the Conservative Party must unite to win the next election and put an end to a government run and funded by secretive unions bosses."

The BMA's rallying cry was recorded on “Black Wednesday”, a term used to describe a national changeover day on the first Wednesday of August when a new cohort of inexperienced doctors start their first postgraduate roles in NHS hospitals and also when the majority of junior doctors rotate to different wards to begin new roles.

The offer for doctors, which is backdated to the 2023-2024 pay award and continues into the 2024/2025 financial year, totals a 22.3 percent uplift over the two years.

BMA members are expected to vote on the proposals on Monday, August 19.

“Delighted” Health Secretary Mr Streeting hailed the BMA deal and assured it would “finally pave the way to ending industrial action which has caused untold misery to patients and staff”.

But now it appears the Labour frontbencher spoke too soon.

Responding to the leaked clip, a junior doctor told the Express: “The BMA does not want to accept the deal but they know the membership is losing interest.

“If there was another vote they might be struggling for turnout to get another mandate. They are using the membership not representing them.

“Now they are worried they won’t be able to any longer they’re having to concede.”

The BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “We are recommending our members vote 'yes' to this offer, which would represent the first step towards restoring junior doctors’ pay after more than a decade of cuts.

“It is not the whole way to our goal but we believe this is a clear opportunity to bank our progress this year and build on it next year, moving us further along our journey to Full Pay Restoration.

“The Government knows that if the journey gets off track, they will face doctors being back in dispute next year.

“Make no mistake that we are determined to restore the pay that has been lost to real terms cuts since 2008. But we never said this would be in one year. This represents a solid base: we hope members will vote to start building from here.”

The BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “We are recommending our members vote ‘yes’ to this offer, which would represent the first step towards restoring junior doctors’ pay after more than a decade of cuts.

“It is not the whole way to our goal but we believe this is a clear opportunity to bank our progress this year and build on it next year, moving us further along our journey to Full Pay Restoration.

“The Government knows that if the journey gets off track, they will face doctors being back in dispute next year.

“Make no mistake that we are determined to restore the pay that has been lost to real terms cuts since 2008. But we never said this would be in one year.

“This represents a solid base: we hope members will vote to start building from here.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is broken, and the Secretary of State has been clear he wants to work with junior doctors to get it back on its feet and improve working conditions.

“The deal being put to doctors will increase pay for junior doctors and see the BMA, NHS England and Government work together to improve conditions, including by reviewing the current rotation system.”

OPINION: Labour Is Taking Us Back to the 1970s

Labour has not learned the lessons of its past. Within weeks of taking office, the new Chancellor has caved in to a striking union, giving them a budget-busting pay rise, for nothing but threats of more strikes in return. It is the 1970s all over again.

Despite being offered a huge 22.3 percent pay rise over two years, the British Medical Association (BMA) is already talking about more strikes for April 2025. This comes after more than a year of industrial action which saw 1.4 million appointments cancelled, leaving patients in pain and distress. We already know many junior doctors are uncomfortable with the radical policies of their union, and now a junior doctor has bravely come forward to warn us of the plans for harmful strikes next year.

The Labour government must meet this person’s courage responsibly and stop capitulating to unions. The Health Secretary has talked a good game about taking on vested interests in the NHS yet hasn’t even ensured that public sector pay rises go hand in hand with productivity improvements, as the last Conservative government secured.

In short, Labour must act in the interests of patients and taxpayers, not its Trade Union friends. This will be tough for Labour Ministers and MPs as many of them have only ever worked for Trade Unions before moving into politics. And the omens are not good. Labour is apparently planning to repeal the legislation we introduced to ensure that safe services must still be provided by health professionals to protect patients during strikes. This legislation is a reasonable response to harmful strike action, yet by repealing it, Labour is prioritising strikes over patient safety.

The BMA’s plan to "bank these initial gains then build and go again in April 2025" is a clear indication that this is only the beginning. The unions are emboldened by a government that won’t say no, and they will continue to push for more until they are stopped.

Readers of the Daily Express know that free enterprise grows the economy and pays for our public services. Yet Labour has decided to fund its inflation-busting pay rises by raising taxes on families and removing the winter fuel allowance from pensioners who have worked hard through their lives.

Labour’s caving in to the unions didn’t work in the 1970s and it won’t work in the 2020s. If Labour doesn’t find some backbone, history shows that it will be the public, taxpayers and the economy that will suffer.