Doctors should be banned from striking - but weak Keir Starmer will cave to their demands

Only recently junior doctors changed their name to "resident doctors" as they felt that being called "junior" was beneath them and "resident" better reflected their status. Well, now they've just voted for another round of strike action after their unrealistic demand for a 29% increase was declined.

I've got a better name for these militant, striking junior doctors: DUDs, short for deluded ungrateful doctors. These DUDs have already had a 28.9% pay rise! Keir Starmer and his smug sidekick Wes Streeting caved in to their demands only a few months back crowing that they'd solved their pay dispute.

They obviously hadn't, and now this ungrateful bunch are back with their hands out demanding yet more money. And because they know Starmer is weak, they have given him an ultimatum: if they don't get what they want within two weeks they will be out on strike from July 25-30.

This new breed of doctor, along with their union the BMA - where the M now stands for "militant" in place of "medical" - has completely lost the plot.

No wonder leading doctors such as Lord Robert Winston are resigning from it, appalled at the latest strike action - especially when you consider that a junior doctor's basic pay in England, depending on experience, ranges from £37,000 to £70,000 a year for a 40-hour week and they can increase that by working night shifts and weekends.

On top of which they have very lavish pensions at a level at which people in the private sector could only ever dream.

The state contributes 23.7% each year to them, whereas most private sector workers get 3% from their employer. Their training and lifelong learning, all subsidised by the taxpayer, also means they will never be out of work.

These DUDs need to get out of their bubble and think, just for a moment, about the people who are paying their wages. Many private sector workers are losing their jobs at a rate of knots - 274,000 people came off payrolls last year - while family businesses are folding, one pub is closing every week and farmers are having their livelihoods taken away from them.

Yet these doctors go on strike abandoning the people who pay for them when they fall sick.

Since 2023 these doctors have staged 11 walkouts leading to almost 1.5 million appointments being cancelled or rescheduled at a cost of £1.7billion to the taxpayer. As a result, many are either in great pain on a waiting list or have given up and paid to go privately. It is time that doctors were barred from striking, just like police officers and the armed forces.

Furthermore, for the investment the public has poured into them, all should be tied to the NHS for a minimum of seven years, and then, should they wish to leave the UK and earn more money in countries such as America or Australia that run private or insurance-based health services, they should pay the money back to the taxpayer that invested in their training.

But don't bet against the biggest dud of them all - Starmer - giving in to the new DUDs' demands.