The health minister faced a tense line of questioning on GB News.
Ellie Costello challenges James Murray over government’s handling of strikes
Health Minister James Murray was humiliated by Ellie Costello during a tense interview on GB News. The Labour politician appeared on the programme shortly after it was announced that resident doctors in England have voted to accept an offer from the government to improve pay and working conditions, bringing an end to strike action. During the interview, GB News presenter Stephen Dixon pointed out: “One of the criticisms was that deals were met, but the government was getting nothing in return. You’ve learned from those mistakes have you?”
Murray explained that the government has learned it needs to mantain strong relationships with work forces and continually building on them to ensure a deal is made. “You have got something in return?” the presenter asked, before pressing Murray on exactly what that is.
James Murray was caught out by Ellie Costello on GB News (Image: GB News)
He responded: “The cost of strikes would have been more than what the deal costs this year, so the most important thing we’ve got straight away is that we’re saving money by having a deal.
“That is a way to make or we’re putting money into frontline services rather than covering the cost of strikes and that’s really for everyone in the NHS.”
However, Costello appeared unconvinced by the minister’s response, challenging him: “You’ve got a deal for the next year, haven’t you?
“We’ve heard from the chairman of the BMA already this morning saying that, ‘This is by no means the end of the road for pay restoration. We’re putting the pay review process on notice and at once again we could risk falling back into a dispute in the future.'”
The presenter argued: “So you haven’t managed to end this cycle of strikes. They’re still talking about potential strikes in the future and you haven’t added in an efficiency clause or a productivity clause.
“So, it’s difficult to see how you’ve made this relationship any better and how you’re saving the NHS money when they’re looking to go on strike already next year.”
Attempting to defend the government’s position, the politician replied: “Well, we know that strikes over recent years have cost the NHS billions. And when resident doctors have been on a strike, other NHS staff have had to step up to help keep the NHS going.
“What this means is that we’ve broken that cycle of strikes. We can now focus on working together with resident doctors to make the NHS stronger.”
However, the GB News host was quick to retort: “But you haven’t though because they’re talking about going on strike next year.”
He didn’t give a direct answer to Costello’s point, but reiterated that the government’s priority is to work closely with resident doctors to prevent future strike action, stressing that the current dispute has now been resolved following the latest pay deal.