Resident doctors’ 29 per cent pay demand is “non-negotiable”, the new leader of the British Medical Association has said, warning strikes could go on for years.
Dr Tom Dolphin also claimed the demand is both reasonable and easily affordable for the NHS, as members gear up for five days of strikes later this month.
But the government has ruled out negotiating with doctors on pay, with health secretary Wes Streeting accusing them of “squandering an opportunity by striking” instead of working with him to improve working conditions.
“You will not find another health and social care secretary as sympathetic to resident doctors as me”, he said.
But Dr Dolphin said the union will not negotiate on or accept a figure lower than 29 per cent because that is the extent of the real-terms loss of earnings doctors have seen since 2008 – a salary they want restored in full.

Speaking to The Guardian, he said the 29 per cent figure is “based on a principle”.
“If we picked a different number, that wouldn’t achieve the pay restoration. So that’s why it looks inflexible.”
He added: “It [29 per cent] is reasonable because it’s based on the loss of value that we’ve had. The number is this big because [previous] governments serially ignored the BMA when we said this is building up a problem.”
Arguing the figure is affordable for the NHS, Dr Dolphin said: “It’s a small proportion of the budget. It [29 per cent] sounds like a large number but actually, put into the context of the whole NHS, it’s not a large sum compared to that”.
And warning that the strikes could go on for several years, he said: “This campaign’s been going on for several years already. We are determined to achieve the pay restoration that doctors deserve and it’s up to the secretary of state how long it takes to do that.”
But the Department of Health and Social Care said Dr Dolphin’s remarks showed that the BMA was “unreasonable and irresponsible.”
On Thursday, TV doctor and IVF pioneer Professor Robert Winston resigned from the BMA over the planned strike action, warning the “highly dangerous” walkout could harm people’s trust in the profession.
Professor Winston, a Labour peer who became a household name through his documentaries on child development, told The Times: “I’ve paid my membership for a long time. I feel very strongly that this isn’t the time to be striking. I think that the country is really struggling in all sorts of ways, people are struggling in all sorts of ways.
“Strike action completely ignores the vulnerability of people in front of you.”
He urged the union to reconsider, saying it is “important that doctors consider their own responsibility much more seriously”, and stressed that the walkout could cause “long-term damage” to people’s faith in doctors.
Meanwhile, Mr Streeting called for resident doctors to “abandon their unreasonable rush to strike” and said that NHS recovery is “fragile”.
The health secretary told the Commons on Thursday: “We have put the NHS on the road to recovery, but we all know that the NHS is still hanging by a thread, and that the BMA is threatening to pull it.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “It is disappointing that the BMA appear to be hardening their position, rather than working with the government to avoid strikes and the serious consequences they will have for patients. No trade union in British history has seen its members respond to such a generous pay rise with strike action, and the majority of BMA resident doctors didn’t vote to strike.
“The Secretary of State has been clear that his door remains open to discussing with the BMA a range of issues that would improve the working lives of resident doctors.
“It is unreasonable and irresponsible for the BMA to refuse to even sit down to talk when they are threatening strike action which will have a serious impact on patients and other NHS staff. It is not too late to step back from the brink and work with the government to avert strikes and continue the work we’ve been doing together to rebuild our NHS.”
The BMA has been contacted for comment.