Douglas Ross has been criticised by junior doctors after claiming they had turned down a pay deal in England because they were politically motivated and anti-Conservative.

The Scottish Tory leader was also accused of making a “totally false” statement when he said medics south of the border rejected the same terms agreed in Scotland.

The SNP said Mr Ross must retract his “shameful” smear. 

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Health Secretary Michael Matheson said Mr Ross had shown “the same disregard for NHS workers as his colleagues at Westminster”.

Junior doctors in Scotland this week accepted a record 12.4% pay increase for 2023/24 on top of 4.5% for 2022/23, plus increases in line with inflation until at least 2026/27.

The deal ensured Scotland’s health service is the only one in the UK with no strikes.

In England, doctors were offered a 6% rise plus £1,250, or around 8.8% per doctor.

Junior doctors rejected the deal and went on strike for several days.

Speaking to the Scotsman newspaper on a visit to Ayrshire yesterday, Mr Ross claimed the two deals were the same, but had been rejected in England because of politics.

He said: “We’ve actually seen when the junior doctor representatives in England were asked would they accept the very same deal that’s now been accepted, they said no.

“Because they want to make this a political issue against a Conservative government at a UK level rather than getting a deal that works for junior doctors and gets them back to work."

The junior doctors section of the BMA tweeted a categorical denial of Mr Ross’s claim.

It said: “At no stage has the Government offered junior doctors in England the deal accepted by our members in Scotland. This claim is totally false.

“If Douglas Ross wants to involve himself in the pay for English doctors we would urge him to convince his party leader to sit down with the BMA and negotiate rather than continue to refuse to talk.”

SNP MSP Emma Harper, a registered nurse, said: “Douglas Ross must urgently retract his shameful political interjection which disgracefully tars hard-working junior doctors and their representatives who are seeking fair pay.

“As the Tory-made cost of living crisis deepens, public sector workers are looking to governments for support. 

“The UK government’s dire failure to engage with unions in England couldn’t be contrasted further with the Scottish Government’s approach.

“In Scotland, a fair pay settlement has been reached by Government and unions working together, rather than demonising NHS staff.

“Douglas Ross might be playing to his own membership to secure his own shaky position, but comments like these show just how detached the Tories are from the general public.”

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Last week the co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee Dr Rob Laurenson was asked if the BMA in England would accept the kind of deal later agreed in Scotland

Dr Laurenson replied: “No because the Governments are very different.

“The Scottish Government, there’s a basis to have a relationship and a working relationship to negotiate in the future, the [UK] Government that we have today are hellbent on using the rigged independent pay review body to suppress our pay.”

It was described by a UK Government source as "a clear admission from the BMA junior doctors leadership that their strikes are part of a politically-motivated campaign aimed at bringing down the Government.

“This industrial action is not in the interests of ordinary doctors in training or of patients.

“We are delivering a fair pay award averaging 8.8 percent for doctors in training with 10.3% for the lowest earners. The BMA should end their strikes immediately.”

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “Given the huge backlogs on the SNP’s watch, it is welcome that strikes by junior doctors in Scotland have been avoided.

“The last thing our hardworking junior doctors want to do is to bring any further harm to patients, which is the consequence of strike action.

“Douglas Ross was rightly sharing his frustration at the lack of negotiation following the UK Government’s reasonable offer to junior doctors.”