Less than a year after Labour swept to power promising a “new deal” for workers and an end to Tory austerity, frontline NHS doctors are once again being pushed to the picket lines — this time, by the very party they helped elect.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has slammed the government’s newly announced four per cent pay rise for doctors in England as “derisory,” accusing Labour of betraying a commitment to restore pay to pre-austerity levels.

In stark terms, the union warns that unless the government changes course, industrial action could return — just months after strikes were suspended in good faith.

The BMA says that doctors’ pay is still around 25 per cent lower, in real terms, than it was 16 years ago.

While last year’s settlement delivered an average 22 per cent rise for resident (formerly junior) doctors, that deal was only part of a broader effort to resolve 15 years of real-term pay erosion.

The current four per cent offer — despite being technically above inflation — barely scratches the surface of what was promised.

“This takes us backwards,” said BMA council chair Prof Philip Banfield. “There is no serious plan to reverse a decade and a half of decline. Doctors are exhausted, underpaid, and now being gaslit by a government that claimed it had our backs.”

Labour, in opposition, had roundly condemned the Conservative government for years of public sector neglect.

But in government, the party appears to be adopting the same old logic: tighten belts, squeeze services, and tell frontline workers to do more with less.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting insists the pay award is a “step forward,” arguing that both this year’s and last year’s settlements show “significant progress.”

But NHS workers aren’t buying it — and neither are the unions.

Even worse, the Royal College of Nursing has reacted furiously to the decision to offer nurses and midwives just 3.6 per cent — less than doctors — in a move the RCN described as “grotesque.”

Meanwhile, teachers face a similar dilemma.

The National Education Union (NEU) has accepted the four per cent pay offer as “broadly acceptable” — but only with full funding.

The government has promised £615 million to cover the cost, but expects schools to pick up the rest via “smarter spending” — Whitehall code for cuts.

NEU leader Daniel Kebede warned that the shortfall will “result in cuts to children’s education, job losses, and even more pressure on staff already stretched to breaking point.”

“Unless the government funds the pay rise fully, we will register a dispute — and we will not stay quiet,” said Kebede.

Labour’s credibility is fraying.

Its electoral honeymoon is long over.

After promising to rebuild public services and undo the harm of austerity, it now appears to be managing decline — just in a slightly friendlier tone than the Tories.

This latest move may prove politically toxic.

Recent polling shows Labour slipping, with Reform UK gaining traction, and anger simmering among former Labour strongholds in health and education.

Voters were promised “Change”.

What they’re getting looks dangerously like business as usual.