Day: July 25, 2025

Up to 50,000 people went on strike at 7am, with the action intended to last until 7am on Wednesday 30 July

The BMA argues that resident doctors have seen their pay fall by a much greater amount in real terms since 2008-09 than the rest of the population.

“Doctors are not worth less than they were 17 years ago, when austerity policies began driving wages down. We’re simply asking for that value to be restored,” it said.

Pay erosion has now got to the point where a doctor’s assistant can be paid up to 30% more than a resident doctor. That’s going to strike most of the public that use the NHS as deeply unfair.

There was a deal here to be done. Instead, the BMA leadership’s decision to not even consider postponing these strikes will place an enormous burden on their colleagues, and hit the recovery we can all see our health service is making.

Not only that, it enormously undermines the entire trade union movement. No trade union in British history has seen its members receive a such a steep pay rise only to immediately respond with strikes – even when a majority of their members didn’t even vote to strike. This action is unprecedented, and it is unreasonable.

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