Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that meeting doctors' demands for pay rises could cost the NHS £30bn a year, a figure vastly exceeding the £3bn already spent on strikes over three years. This would be more than the entire Ministry of Justice budget for the criminal justice system, Streeting stated. The dispute centers on the British Medical Association's (BMA) rejection of government offers, insisting on restoring pay to 2008 levels. While resident doctors have received a 29% pay increase since Labour took office, the BMA sees a 3.5% offer for 2026-27 as a 'crushing blow'.

Streeting accuses the union of 'intransigence', noting that conceding to their preferred RPI-linked inflation measure would trigger similar demands across the NHS's 1.4 million workforce, including nurses. The BMA denies reneging on an offer, claiming the government has backtracked. The ongoing six-day strike, the 15th in a series, forces senior doctors to cover emergency care, potentially delaying routine treatments and undermining government targets for reducing waiting lists.