‘Impossible’ to work with GPC ‘in good faith’, says Wes Streeting in letter to GPs
Health secretary Wes Streeting has written to GPs to explain his side of the breakdown of the relationship with the BMA’s GP Committee.
According to Mr Streeting, his attempts at a ‘constructive relationship’ have failed due to a lack of ‘mutual respect and professionalism’.
The BMA has said that its professionals have maintained honesty throughout the process.
Mr Streeting wrote: ‘Since entering government, I have sought a constructive relationship with the BMA GPC which, until recently, I believe we had. I am a staunch supporter of the trade union movement, but serious relationships with government demand a certain level of mutual respect and professionalism. Your union representatives are currently making it impossible for me and my officials to engage in good faith in the way we would all want.
‘On Friday 7 November, the Chair of the BMA GPCE, Dr Katie Bramall, gave a speech at the 2025 annual England LMC Conference in which she accused the government of being “traitors” to the profession and of “disingenuousness”, “duplicity” and “gaslighting”. This speech was not just deeply unprofessional and unbecoming of a professional representative body, it was misleading. The BMA agreed these contract changes in February 2025 and any suggestions to the contrary are factually incorrect.
‘In spite of their actions, I am determined to ensure that general practice continues to go from strength to strength, including ensuring we support all practices to successfully implement new contract changes.’
Pulse reported yesterday that distrust was the Government’s reason for overhauling the GP contract process from a negotiation with the GPC to a consultation where it is just one stakeholder.
Since reporting the news, but before the health secretary’s letter, the BMA provided a statement on the situation.
A BMA spokesperson said: ‘We have remained honest throughout this process, as you would expect from a team of regulated medical professionals. The timeline of transparent correspondence can be found on the BMA’s GP campaign webpage.
‘We are at risk of losing sight of what all parties ultimately want: clinically safe environments to meet the needs of our patients. If we act in the best interests of patients and the profession, there is still ample opportunity for this government to rebuild general practice, and transform the NHS experience for the 1.5 million patients using our services every day.’
In his letter, Mr Streeting acknowledged the problems GPs have faced in implementing the 1 October contract changes mandating core hours online access – which form the basis of the BMA’s dispute with the Government.
He said: ‘I know not everyone’s circumstances are the same, which is why NHS England and ICBs are providing opportunities for bespoke support and peer learning so that, over time, everyone can benefit from the positive impact we know reliable online access can have for patients and staff alike.’
And he went on to say that he remains committed to reform of the GP contract.
‘What’s more, we remain committed to the substantive reform of the GP contract within this parliament and our ten-year workforce plan due to be published next year will put rewarding careers in general practice at its heart,’ he said.
‘This is a government that wants to work constructively with the GP profession in genuine partnership, and I sincerely hope the BMA GPCE will choose to de-escalate their dispute.
‘I will shortly be writing to the BMA GPCE and a range of general practice stakeholders to begin consultation for the 2026/27 GMS contract, ensuring we reflect the diversity of views amongst the profession and patients as we establish our next steps to get general practice back on its feet and make it fit for the future.’
As exclusively revealed by Pulse earlier this week, instead of negotiations with the BMA’s GP Committee, the Government will ‘consult’ it alongside a wider group of stakeholders, including patient groups.
Yesterday, GPCE deputy chair Dr David Wrigley – echoed by a number of other GP leaders – accused the Government of trying to ‘sideline’ the BMA as a trade union, against traditional Labour Party values.
Wes Streeting’s letter in full
From the Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP Secretary of State for Health and Social Care 39 Victoria Street London SW1H 0EU
27th November 2025
Dear colleagues,
Firstly, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to you and your teams for all the work you are putting in to ensure the NHS is well prepared for what will be a difficult winter. So far this autumn you have provided 8.3 million flu vaccinations and put general practice access on a strong footing going into the winter months. Patient satisfaction with general practice is improving, with 73.9% reporting a good overall experience, up from 67.4% in July 2024. This is a significant achievement, and the credit is all yours.
Over the last 18 months, I have consistently promoted the importance of general practice and have backed this up with meaningful action:
- We struck the first contract deal with the BMA GPCE in 4 years last year, backed by £1.1billion in 2025/26 (an 8.9% cash uplift), the biggest in over a decade.
- Within months of entering government, we invested an additional £82 million into the ARRS scheme and removed red tape to allow you to recruit over 2,500 extra GPs. I am now actively looking at ways I can introduce further flexibilities into the scheme to continue boosting GP employment.
- To ensure general practice is rewarded for the additional work you take on through advice and guidance, we have introduced a financial incentive backed by additional funding.
I recognise that there is more work to do, and I want to do that working in partnership with GPs, who are some of the most innovative people working in our health service.
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of observing a Neighbourhood Health simulation event at the NHS Providers conference. GPs up and down the country are at the leading edge of this work, and we have so much to learn from you as we co-design our plans for a neighbourhood health service. You are the people with the expertise and experience to deliver this, and that is why general practice will be at the heart of the neighbourhood health service, in many cases leading it.
Amidst all this brilliant work, you will be aware that the BMA GPCE has launched a formal dispute with the government over the 1st October online access contract changes which they agreed to, and which the vast majority of practices have now adopted.
I know there has been a lot of noise surrounding this in recent weeks, so I wanted to take the opportunity to set out the facts and give you the confidence that this is a government deeply committed to the work you and your teams are doing to get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
Since entering government, I have sought a constructive relationship with the BMA GPC which, until recently, I believe we had. I am a staunch supporter of the trade union movement, but serious relationships with government demand a certain level of mutual respect and professionalism. Your union representatives are currently making it impossible for me and my officials to engage in good faith in the way we would all want.
On Friday 7 November, the Chair of the BMA GPCE, Dr Katie Bramall, gave a speech at the 2025 annual England LMC Conference in which she accused the government of being “traitors” to the profession and of “disingenuousness”, “duplicity” and “gaslighting”. This speech was not just deeply unprofessional and unbecoming of a professional representative body, it was misleading. The BMA agreed these contract changes in February 2025 and any suggestions to the contrary are factually incorrect.
In spite of their actions, I am determined to ensure that general practice continues to go from strength to strength, including ensuring we support all practices to successfully implement new contract changes. I know not everyone’s circumstances are the same, which is why NHS England and ICBs are providing opportunities for bespoke support and peer learning so that, over time, everyone can benefit from the positive impact we know reliable online access can have for patients and staff alike.
What’s more, we remain committed to the substantive reform of the GP contract within this parliament and our ten-year workforce plan due to be published next year will put rewarding careers in general practice at its heart.
This is a government that wants to work constructively with the GP profession in genuine partnership, and I sincerely hope the BMA GPCE will choose to de-escalate their dispute. I will shortly be writing to the BMA GPCE and a range of general practice stakeholders to begin consultation for the 2026/27 GMS contract, ensuring we reflect the diversity of views amongst the profession and patients as we establish our next steps to get general practice back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
Yours sincerely,
RT HON WES STREETING MP
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READERS' COMMENTS [21]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
A lot of his pronouncements appear to indicate very poor understanding of the NHS, it’s systems, doctoring and medicine in general, running a GP service in particular, and the possibilities for AI and IT to solve everything so rapidly, and the effect of ARRS money given with so many strings attached, so I would not be able to trust him, even if he had always been truthful and respectful to trade unions, and the rights to life of the palestinians his government is subjecting to genocide by Israel using British weapons.
“Morally reprehensible, Cartel-like, doctors must feel the pain” – I think Streeting himself slapped doctors in the face with raising angry rhetoric.
Undermining Dr Bramall and GPCE would give government a free reign.
Whilst making the argument the focus here, it’s worth repeating: government and Dr Doyle raised no patient safety concerns despite there being no available software solutions to prevent misdirection of urgent care getting lost in the swamped online forms??
That is the real issue here that Streeting should be focusing on; the rest is intimidation and threat.
The reality is the BMA know Labour invest in NHS and so try to maximise their slice of the action by being adversarial ‘ in the interests of safety’. Our NHS deserves better pragmatic leadership than our BMA as the public will blame us rightly for strikes and walkouts as the NHS is funded preferentially to all other public services. We need to think of those who need our NHS the most or we will lose any remaining respect we have with the public.
“The reality is the BMA know Labour invest in NHS and so try to maximise their slice of the action by being adversarial ‘ in the interests of safety’. Our NHS deserves better pragmatic leadership than our BMA as the public will blame us rightly for strikes and walkouts as the NHS is funded preferentially to all other public services. We need to think of those who need our NHS the most or we will lose any remaining respect we have with the public.”
Lol
What is Wes and the DHSC up to? Why would they put GPCE in a bind? It’s not because Wes’s feelings are hurt…it’s realpolitik tactic. I read this as a cynical move by DHSC to hobble the GPC and clear the path for a “substantive” new GP contract “by the end of this parliament”, likely towards a salaried service. Unlike Thatcher with the miners, I don’t think this government’s goal is to destroy general practice but to transform the traditional form of GP contracting from “local shopkeepers” to easier-to-herd corporate supermarkets. I could be wrong…but what move is the BMA prepared to make? History will judge.
Wes needs to sack his political advisers! He is seriously misguided if he believes GPs cannot see the systematic dismantling of the profession with him at the helm. Letters like this only bolster support for the BMA.
Wes Streeting is indeed himself the most disingenuous , duplicitous gas lighter we have ever seen as a health secretary in my opinion completely in line with BMA statements and his bullying tactics of surrounding himself only with those who do not dissent i.e.. NHSE, DHSC and the NHS confederation with attempts to mislead the patient groups as part of his networks as he has done in my opinion is his trademark.
Apparently he invests in the NHS but takes no account of the imposition of additional unfunded work, and vast clawbacks via tax and salary hikes funded from within these apparent additional resources.
NHSE and DHSC have a world beating track record of failure which is not hard to unravel when the dire level of leaders is noted.
Disbanding a failing NHSE does not mean the individuals who have led these failures along currently with Streeting will disappear as they have unlike GPs no accountability for their dire and shockingly poor performance or the risks they impose under duress on others including patients.
Streeting’s complete embarrassing ignorance and lack of NHS experience listening to historically failing NHSE /DHSC leaders or completely ineffective fawning , obsequious RCGP of how these NHS /primary care systems work and reliance on AI /digital smokescreens to hide his own lack of other real world solutions is telling . Attempts to further fragment Primary Care via corporate sized neighbourhood groups and reliance on the Fuller fantasy combined with re-emergence of failed costly superhubs despite the the astronomical failure of the previous Labour Darzi centres signifies leadership via wilful ignorance.
Streeting is treating NHS redevelopment needs as his own playground of dreams based on no meaningful experience of working in the NHS other than leisurely comfortable trips to the most successful NHS sites ignoring the problem areas and root causes to further wrongfully embed his misguided views within his shielded echo chambers.
The NHS Confederation is just another ‘Bluetooth Speaker connected to the government’ in my opinion for those who wish to avoid frontline work under the pretence of spreading wisdom to others and joins the next generation of Quango’s in my opinion.
I listened to one of their members speaking and it is simply government / leadership jargon disguised under innovation.
It could be abolished and no one would notice other than those who like to hear the sound of their own voice.
Streeting is gathering those around him who support his views with little interest in those who have worked in Primary care for a lifetime.
We need to stand firm against Streeting and those who will take the money and run as happened also for the few in the resident doctor strikes and as happened with PCNs/ CDs and will happen with neighbourhood groups and Hubs .
Streeting’s destruction of local Primary Care harming patients and the NHS should be opposed and patients in contrast to many views, do in fact support GPs and local primary care.
In line with FO comments in another article , the action that will be effective will be robustly refusing to engage with PCNs and /or refusal to engage with the forced imposition of Neighbourhood groups and HUBs.
He may not be Health Secretary come the next General Election.
With a majority of just over 500 he may not even be an MP.
No doubt he will get some lucrative non-job somewhere.
Perhaps the GP’s and their teams in his constituency should make the most of every opportunity to remind their patients what a mess he has made of General Practice.
Wes Streeting is right ! But only in part !
It is impossible for the GPC to work in good faith with a mInister who is so duplicitous, disingenuous, disrespectful, disinformative and delusional as the current one. He has been slagging off GPs, and other Doctors, far before anything Katie BMA said at conference, and does not appear to have a clue how important NHS is to people, nor how bad the waits and gaps are underfunding actually are.
Respect has to be earned and Streeting has done little to earn respect.
I think the onus is on the health secretary to make this work with our representatives regardless and instruct his team to get back on with getting round the table? What a demonstration of atrocious leadership otherwise 😩😢
Like all politicians Streeting wouldn’t recognise the truth, even if it smacked him in the face. No doubt he has been taking lessons on this from Reeves and the “factually incorrect” “taxes will not be raised”. Similarly, like all Health Secretaries in recent history, he knows nothing about General Practice and only says and does what senior NHSE managers tell him to. Led by the nose is what comes to mind whenever he pontificates.
Pretty crass attempt to undermine GP support for the BMA and GPC. Time to demonstrate solidarity against this appalling and deeply disappointing HM and his acolytes and join methinks.
IT hasn’t taken very long for Mr Streeting’s thinly veiled disdain for GPs to become apparant yet again. He started like a bull in a china shop as shadow health sec with his obtuse views around GP partnerships. He then retreated when someone took the time to explain things to him, but unfortunately he can’t help himself. Sans experience in health, seemingly he knows best.
We are not colleagues with you Wes
Hello from Canada, Wes. I thought the old crowd were bad enough. The new crowd are too. Imposed contracts, all you can eat buffets, new PFI for the only part of the NHS that runs efficiently and on goodwill. Thanks for reinforcing that I made a great decision to leave the UK.
Happy Holidays Wes make sure to roast, sorry toast General Practice again.
KBS cocked up the contract discussions and now Wes is flexing – aimng for the top slot
The 4 Feb KBS GPCE letter has put us in this position.
Gave clear support to NHSE to implement electronic access 0800 – 1830.
We need a plan B as per the dentists
While every one tries to work out contract can’t we see how G.Ps are leaving this nation to serve other nations ? Why are there no jobs for thousands of G.Ps ? Why go to medical School and collect debt at end of qualification when there are no jobs ? Why thousands of G.Ps offerer less? We need funding now to employ G.Ps now while working on contract going forward. Reverse the G.P unemployment and stop exodus of G.Ps. This is the first step.
Creating a situation where by G.Ps leave to work in another country is waste of our tax money just use resources to stop this unemployment. Who would have thought after so many years of training doctors will be out of job so why train doctors ? Why have Medical Schools? Just close the Medical Schools and stop wasting tax money. Do an audit of how many doctors have left and what the cost of G.Ps leaving this nation is . Who created this crisis? why is this crisis not reversed till now? we can’t wait till 2028 and keep loosing doctors. Do something now or close medical Schools so others don’t fall in this trap.
Not fit for the job
Mr. Streeting – Just because GPC leaders do not agree with you does not mean you cannot work with them. They obviously represent GP and hence will have their interest in their heart. Every one of them is jobbing GP so obviously care for their patients too. You neither have GP interest nor have patients interest in your heart. I am sure you have a private health insurance and will see a GP/Consultant when you need one. I challenge you to spend a day with any GP practice of your choice and stand behind the reception and look at the verbal abuse we face & onslaught of online consultation which is increasing day by day. Will you be able to answer all your constituents unlimited uncapped query by the end of the working day ? This is simply not safe and you will be the one going down the history as the Health secretory who dismantled only efficient working part of NHS which is General practice, unless this exactly you and your colleagues want and your agenda is to end the traditional general practice and privatise it. You are no different than rest of politicians who rarely speak a truth and looking for a scapegoat or shoot from someone else’s shoulder.