RACHEL REEVES said that the price of the pay deal offered to junior doctors is a “drop in the ocean” compared to the cost of strikes.

Speaking to Times Radio the chancellor said that funding the 22.3 per cent pay package would cost about £350 million — a small sum compared to the £1.7 billion she claims was lost to NHS strikes.

The new offer, which will mean newly qualified doctors earning £15 an hour will earn about £17.60, has been put to members at the British Medical Association (BMA).

The BMA’s junior doctors committee said the offer does not restore pay lost over the last decade and a half but it “changes the current trajectory.” They recommend that members vote for the deal.

Warning that many have left to work abroad, Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chairwoman of BMA council told the BBC: “I don’t think that yet this will be a change that will bring people back, but it might be a step that encourages people to stay because it highlights a shift in approach from this government.”