Frustration on the picket line: what can break the deadlock? 

James Manning/PA

By Emma Wilkinson

As resident doctors begin a six-day strike in their long-running dispute with the government over jobs and pay, Emma Wilkinson looks at the latest position and what it might take to break the stalemate.

This is the fifteenth strike by resident doctors since 2023 in an almost three-year row over pay, training and job security. There had been strong hope that a deal could be agreed after weeks of negotiations, but the British Medical Association (BMA) rejected the offer after it said the government had “moved the goalposts” at the last minute.