A former Health Minister has said Wes Streeting is not being held to the same scrutiny as the Conservative government over resident doctors’ strikes.

Speaking on GB News Maria Caulfield said: “I think Wes [Streeting] was very naive when he first took on the role. I’ve been in his position when we had junior doctor strikes, as they were called then. We also had nurses strikes too.

“We were very honest with the health service professionals that there just wasn’t the money for that scale of pay rises. And I think of Wes spending about £600 million on the 22% pay rise he gave junior doctors, and it was obvious that they would come back for more.

“But also he’s not being truly honest with the British public about why these strikes are happening this time, because there is also a separate issue.

“There’s a massive issue with newly qualified doctors unable to get training posts, which means posts so they can specialise to become cardiologists or oncologists or GPs.

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“Nearly half those doctors that are qualified, the British taxpayer has helped pay for their training, cannot get jobs. And that is one of the reasons that the BMA is striking now.

“But because the BMA cried for more pay for so long, people stop listening and Wes is losing it.

“They can’t get jobs because Wes has spent the money for the NHS on other things. He spent £600 million on a 22% pay rise. He’s spending a billion pounds on restructuring NHS England, on redundancy pay.

“And even today on the announcement with drug tariffs with President Trump, that is going to cost about £3 billion.

“All that money could go into providing those training places for qualified doctors, and it’s been spent in other ways and Wes needs to be honest about that.

“We all know that even in the best of winters, the NHS struggles with people getting flu, chest infections. You know, we’ve often seen ambulances queuing around the block. That is going to be made worse by striking action in the run up to Christmas.

“And absolutely, the media are not holding Wes’s feet to the fire on this because he promised he could resolve it, that a Labour government will resolve all of this, and he hasn’t done it. And in fact, the situation is getting worse.

“I don’t think he can [cave in]. There isn’t the money and we said that when we were in government. There isn’t the money to provide that level of pay rise. But also we have got newly qualified doctors and nurses and midwives and pharmacists qualifying with no jobs to go to.

“That is a bigger scandal, in my view, and the media have been relatively silent on that as well.”