Why resident doctors went on strike

Britain’s resident doctors are embroiled in ongoing industrial action over an intractable pay dispute, which has been running since March 2023. Average pay for resident doctors (previously junior doctors) has risen, in total, by 28.9% since then, with a pay rise of 8.8% awarded by the last government, and three separate rises given by Labour since. But the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association, is demanding “full pay restoration”, arguing that the value of resident doctors’ pay has been eroded heavily by inflation since 2008/09...