MILITANT junior doctors have vowed to “press ahead” with strikes next week after talks with the PM broke down.
Sir Keir Starmer had slammed the British Medical Association for “recklessly” deciding to trigger industrial action.
He gave them a 48-hour ultimatum to call off strikes or lose an improved pay deal.
Despite netting some docs more than £100,000, the BMA snubbed the offer in pursuit of its 26 per cent aim.
Doctors now plan to go ahead with their plans to gather on picket lines from 7am on April 7.
They say they will not return to work until April 13, the union said.
The Department of Health and Social Care called the decision “disappointing”.
A spokesperson said: “It is disappointing that the BMA has decided to press ahead with strikes next week, despite conversations we have been having in recent days in a bid to protect the NHS from strikes.
“This government offered resident doctors a generous deal to improve their pay, career progression and working lives that would have seen resident doctors on average 35.2% better off than they were four years ago.”
The decision to go ahead with the strikes means one thousand extra training places the union requested won’t be able to be delivered.
“Because the BMA Resident Doctor Committee has not agreed to call off these strikes and put an offer to members, we will now not be able to deliver the 1000 extra training places which the BMA asked for,” the Department of Health and Social Care added.
“These posts would have gone live this month, but as systems now need to prepare for strikes and more uncertainty, it simply won’t be operationally or financially possible to launch these posts in April in time to recruit for this year – this won’t impact the overall number of resident doctors and the NHS will be there for patients when they need it.
“Our attention and that of leaders across the NHS is now on protecting patients, staff and our NHS by minimising disruption to the health service.”
Earlier this week, the PM wrote in The Times: “Walking away from this deal is the wrong decision. It is a reckless decision.
“And doing so without even giving resident doctors themselves the chance to vote on it makes it even worse.
“No one benefits from rejecting this deal. Resident doctors will be worse off.
“Instead of the improved pay, progression and support on offer, they will receive the standard pay award this year, with none of the additional reforms that would have strengthened their working lives.”
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