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Jeremy Corbyn's speech to junior doctors

Standing outside the Department of Health, Mr Corbyn told medics the NHS was “under threat from a Government that is more interested in attacking the core of the NHS than supporting the NHS and people that keep us all alive”.

As snow and hail battered Whitehall, he went on: “I have come here today to say thank you to everyone who works in the NHS for all that you do in whatever grade you are.

“Whether you’re a cleaner, a catering worker, a porter, a nurse, an auxiliary, a manager or somebody working in a an area of medical records and all the others.

(Image: PA)

“All of us have benefited from the skill of what are called junior doctors.

“In reality they shouldn’t be called junior doctors - they are highly skilled people who have sown their commitment to our NHS.”

Mr Corbyn said the Health Secretary had “had every opportunity to negotiate an agreement for the junior doctors.”

He added: “They are the ones who have behaved in a responsible manner, to say they are here to defend the NHS.

“His response is to try and impose a contract on them.

“That is no way for a Secretary of State to behave towards one of the most crucial elements of the NHS workforce.

“Today we are here to show our support for them and our National Health Service and say to Jeremy Hunt, the NHS is absolutely safe in the hands of those who work in it - the junior doctors who work day in, day out to keep us all safe and healthy.

“It’s not safe in the hands of a government that is more interested in attacking those who work in the NHS, selling off its assets and destroying the very principles of our National Health Service.”

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