Doctors strike live: Starmer faces off against Badenoch in final PMQs of the year – UK Times

The final PMQs of the year has kicked off in the Commons.

Sir Keir Starmer will face tough questions from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, as the resident doctors strike gets underway.

The Independent’s reporter Dan Haygarth has been speaking to resident doctors on strike in London today:

Dr Shivam Sharma said the UK was “Australia’s best medical school”, referring to the large number of doctors leaving the UK.

“We know that we’re 40,000 doctors short compared with the EU average – that’s at a time when patients are waiting longer than ever for appointments, waiting over 12 hours in corridors, in A&E,” he told The Independent.

“That is not dignified. At the same time doctors are struggling to get jobs – it just doesn’t make sense.

“What we’re saying to the health secretary is to increase the total amount of jobs in the NHS so that patients can get seen.”

He added: “We are Australia’s best medical school. We have record numbers of doctors leaving to Australia and that is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Doctors are being trained up only to leave and that is because doctors don’t feel valued within this healthcare system.”

Sir Keir Starmer is set to face tough questions in the Commons in the last PMQs of the year.

The prime minister will be grilled by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch before a parliamentary recess for Christmas and the New Year.

The Independent’s Dan Haygarth is reporting from St Thomas’ Hospital in London:

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn joined striking doctors on a picket line in London on Wednesday morning.

He told The Independent that despite “huge queues” at A&E departments, there a “doctors who are unemployed”.

Asked what he would do if he were in Wes Streeting’s position, he said: “First of all, I’d meet with doctors, listen to them and spend time in A&E to understand what the pressures are like – and the moral blackmail that’s used against doctors all the time to try and do the impossible, as they do almost every day in our A&E.”

The Independent’s health correspondent Rebecca Thomas reports:

“It is currently impossible for there to be enough” consultants and other senior doctors to safely cover every shift within obstetric services at Nottingham University Hospital, according to a letter from the British Medical Association.

NUH, which was the centre of a major maternity scandal, faces a police investigation and long-term staff sickness, which is making it hard for the trust to cover resident doctors strikes, the letter posted by the BMA said.

The BMA has agreed to grant obstetric services at the trust resident doctors to come back for “part” of a shift.

Inflation has been on a difficult path in 2025, initially dropping before surging back up from April onwards.

However, it appeared to peak over summer and the latest figures thankfully have inflation back on the downward path, with Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate falling back to 3.2 per cent in November.

While the rate is lowering, remember, that does not mean prices are coming down – it means they are rising more slowly than previously.

The Independent’s Business and Money editor Karl Matchett explains:

The Independent’s Dan Haygarth is reporting from St Thomas’ Hospital in London:

A group of resident doctors formed a picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London as strikes began across the country.

The doctors, who told The Independent they were fighting for improved pay and conditions, were in a defiant mood and were led in a number of chants outside the hospital – including ‘Come on Wes, do it today, fix our jobs, fix our pay’, ‘cuts don’t pay the bills’ and ‘oh pay restoration’.

Some vehicles heading along Westminster Bridge Road beeped their horns in support for the doctors, who were also visited by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday morning.

The Independent’s health correspondent Rebecca Thomas reports:

While ministers’ warnings focus on the pressures facing hospitals during this week of strikes, this morning NHS England chief executive Jim Mackey has said the health service has so far had to absorb the additional monetary costs.

Having consultants cover resident doctors’ shits comes at a considerable cost – which is coming out of the NHS’ existing budget.

When quizzed the health secretary did not indicate more money would be coming from the government to help with this additional cost pressure.

While finances are already very stretched for the NHS absorbing additional costs of strikes could mean money comes out of other delivering other services.