Health unions suggest industrial action likely to continue as Gillian Keegan defends 6% rise on the table

A senior cabinet minister has urged health unions to take the government’s pay offer “seriously”, after union leaders said the proposed deal would drive doctors out of the profession and could lead to further strikes.

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, defended the offer of a 6% pay rise for junior doctors, a day after the government accepted the recommendations of the public sector pay review bodies.