British medics will “turn their backs on the NHS” if they are not prioritised for specialty training, health secretary Wes Streeting has warned.
Mr Streeting warned the health service must “break our over-reliance on international recruitment”, as he unveiled plans to give UK and Irish medical graduates precedence for these vital training places.
Specialty training marks the final stage of a doctor’s qualification, focusing on a specific medical field or general practice.
The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill, due for Commons discussion on Tuesday, would also see British and Irish graduates prioritised for foundation training.
Setting out the bill, the health secretary said: “We’ve known for years that the treatment of resident doctors is often totally unacceptable and the very real fears about their futures are wholly justified.
“Every time I’ve met a resident doctor, either formally or informally, they tell me, without fail, how their careers are blocked because there are far too many applicants for training places.
“Not only do I think they have a legitimate grievance, I agree with them.”
Mr Streeting warned that if they do not deal with the issue, “the resentment it causes will just get worse” and British medics will “turn their backs on the NHS”.
While the health secretary said he was proud of the NHS being an “international employer”, he said: “We must break our over-reliance on international recruitment.”
“When it comes to prioritisation, we are prioritising UK-trained medical graduates from UK-based universities who have undertaken their training here in the UK, and I think that is the right priority.”
The draft law forms part of Mr Streeting’s aim of resolving the dispute between the government and resident doctors in England.
Resident doctors are currently being balloted by the British Medical Association (BMA) on whether or not to continue industrial action.
The union’s current mandate runs out this month, but this could be extended to August if the ballot is successful.
Since 2019, the number of applicants for training posts has risen from 12,000 to almost 40,000, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
According to NHS figures, of the 33,123 doctors who applied for specialty training in 2025, some 37 per cent (12,316) were UK graduates, while the remainder were from overseas.
Mr Streeting told MPs that his department respects the ballot process the BMA are undertaking, and said the two groups were “not that far apart” when it comes to jobs.
He said: “There remains a gap between the expectations of the BMA and what the government can afford.
“All I ask of resident doctors and their BMA representatives is some understanding and a bit of give and take.”
Conservative shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said his party “supports the principle behind” the draft new law, but added it “must work in practice and not just look good in a headline”.
Calling for clarity on the face of the bill, Mr Andrew said doctors training with the UK armed forces overseas must “not be penalised because part of their training takes place abroad on service”.
He also said the bill’s powers should come into effect as soon as it receives royal assent, not on a day of the health secretary’s choosing, amid fears it could become a further bargaining tool in negotiations with striking doctors.
Mr Andrew asked, if the bill were “truly” urgent, “Why would they not commence it immediately?”
He said: “The secretary of state should not be playing politics with people’s jobs. It’s not right for doctors – including those not involved in industrial action – to be treated as bargaining chips or for parliament to be treated in this way to give him the tools that he needs ’cause he did the first set of negotiations so badly.”
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