15 October 2026

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath has condemned the Executive's handling of the ongoing health service pay disputes, accusing Ministers of allowing frontline healthcare workers to become caught in a political standoff with the Secretary of State, Sir Chris Bryant.

Mr McGrath was speaking after the British Medical Association confirmed further industrial action by doctors in November, following a failure to secure agreement on an above-inflation pay increase and a commitment to full pay restoration.

Mr. McGrath said:

“Doctors and nurses are the backbone of our health service. They have given their working lives to caring for us, protecting our families and holding together a health system that is already under enormous pressure.

“And how are they being repaid? By an utterly reckless and irresponsible Executive that appears more interested in playing a political game of 'who blinks first' with the Secretary of State than delivering for the people who depend on our public services.

“Our doctors and nurses are not bargaining chips. Their livelihoods are not political leverage. And our health service cannot be treated as collateral damage in a standoff between Stormont and Westminster.

“The Executive cannot simply throw its hands in the air, point towards London and pretend it has no responsibility. Ministers were elected to govern, to make difficult decisions and to stand up for the people they serve.

“Now we face further industrial action, with patients and exhausted healthcare workers left carrying the consequences of this failure.

“I fully recognise the financial pressures facing Northern Ireland, but those pressures demand leadership, honesty and meaningful engagement, not political brinkmanship.

“It is time for the Executive to stop asking who will blink first and start asking who will suffer most. Because the answer is already clear, our healthcare workers and the patients who depend on them.”